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View Full Version : Cichlid Profiles - Amphilophus robertsoni


robertprice
July 15th, 2013, 05:27 AM
This fish has the distinction of being possibly the most beautiful member of the genus, and the one with the most common names. Hailing from rivers in southern Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, it is called Robertson's Cichlid, False Firemouth, Blue Sifter, Emerald Cichlid, Honduras Cichlid, and Turquoise Cichlid. Oustanding specimens have placed well in shows. This 8-10 inch fish has a ground color of yellow to brown above the lateral line and on the head, and turquoise to baby blue to purple below, on the belly, and gill cover and mouth. It has similarly shaded pelvic and **** fins, a bright yellow dorsal, and wine colored tail. It is generously covered with iridescent pearls of white, green, or light blue. Young specimens are much plainer yellow-brown. Good specimens have 7-8 vertical body bars, a dark splotch on th caudal penduncle and three fainter bars, one over the gill cover and two between the eyes. It likes temperatures of 76-81 degrees, pH of 7.2 to 8, and soft to hard water.

It is an obligate bottom feeding omnivore, with a protrusible snout for extracting insects and worms from the substrate. It is the most peaceful Amphilophus toward other fish, but is very aggressive within its species, so much so that it is almost never bred in captivity.Males are slighly larger than females and have long dorsal and **** fin streamers. It is a substrate spawner which lays up to 500 eggs. It is more tolerant of plants than most of its congeners. It is a good community cichlid to have one of a tank of at least 70 gallons. More than 1 should be housed in tanks of 200 gallons or more, with plenty of rock hides. See "Images of Amphilophus robertsoni" for pictures.