robertprice
March 11th, 2013, 10:04 AM
Chanchitos, or Ceibals are perhaps the only real temperature zone cichlid. They come primarily from Uruguay where the temperatures drop to 55 degrees in the water in winter, no more than mid seventies in summer, so the climate in which they live is about the same as Portugal. They are also found in extreme Southern Brazil and Paraguay. The genus was not removed from Cichlasoma until 2006, so their taxonomy is poorly understood and their location is remote. There are thought to be 3 species, with Australoheros sp. Red Ceibal being the only one on which much study has been done. These are very attractive medium sized (4-6) fish with a pattern of broken fairly thick black lines on a background color which varies from brown to reddish brown to bright red in breeding males. Some Ceibals show flecks and spots of other colors.
They are a good community fish, being slightly semi-aggressive. They will chase smaller fish and compete well with larger ones, but never in my experience actually fight. They eat virtally anything you might feed to a cichlid, but are slow growing. They like neutral pH.
They are substrate breeders which form strong pair bonds and have only recently been bred in captivity.
:king:
They are a good community fish, being slightly semi-aggressive. They will chase smaller fish and compete well with larger ones, but never in my experience actually fight. They eat virtally anything you might feed to a cichlid, but are slow growing. They like neutral pH.
They are substrate breeders which form strong pair bonds and have only recently been bred in captivity.
:king: