robertprice
July 11th, 2013, 09:48 AM
Amphilophus aka Astatheros maracanthus, the Blackthroat Cichlid, is the largest member of the genus at the northern part of its range, reaching 11 inches (10 for females) and residing in rivers and lakes of the Pacific slope of southern Mexico down to Costa Rica. It is a rather drab fish with a gray ground color and 6 dark vertical bars from the back of the gill cover to the caudal penduncle. The second bar often has a moderate sized black blotch in the center. The chin is black. Other than this marking the head and fore body may be entirely steel gray. It is reasonably common but seldom seen commercially.
This fish is an bottom feeding omnivore, which matures in 12 months and is a substrate breeder, easy to breed in captivity in tanks of 70 gallons. The breeding season is April to August, They have over 500 eggs, and are good parents. They are intraspecifically aggressive, and not very aggressive to other species. They like water temperatures of 78-82, and pH of 7 to 7.5.
This species was moved to Astatheros by Rican in 2008, based on resemblances to Jack Dempseys and Rainbow Cichlids, but most accounts still list it in Amphilophus. See "Images of Amphilophus maracanthus" for pictures.
This fish is an bottom feeding omnivore, which matures in 12 months and is a substrate breeder, easy to breed in captivity in tanks of 70 gallons. The breeding season is April to August, They have over 500 eggs, and are good parents. They are intraspecifically aggressive, and not very aggressive to other species. They like water temperatures of 78-82, and pH of 7 to 7.5.
This species was moved to Astatheros by Rican in 2008, based on resemblances to Jack Dempseys and Rainbow Cichlids, but most accounts still list it in Amphilophus. See "Images of Amphilophus maracanthus" for pictures.