Basketmouth cichlid

Care at a glance

Overview

A single adult needs a tank of at least 300 liters at 26 to 30 C and pH 7.0 to 8.2. Provide open swimming room with wood and plant cover to ambush from. Feed meaty foods and quality predator pellets, and avoid live feeder fish. It is an aggressive predator that will eat any tankmate it can fit in its mouth.

In the wild

The basketmouth cichlid lives in the Atrato, Cauca, Magdalena, and Maracaibo basins of Colombia and Venezuela. It favors plant-choked marshes and swamps in warmer, harder water. This is an ambush predator with an extreme feeding mechanism. Provide open water for hunting along with dense cover.

Good to know

Caquetaia kraussii was described by Steindachner in 1878 and reaches about 30 cm. It has hugely protrusible basket jaws that shoot forward to engulf prey by suction. A 30 cm adult can swallow fish up to around 10 cm long.

Did you know

Its jaws fold out like a basket to catch prey, one of the most extreme suction-feeding mouths of any cichlid.

Related species

• 

  Mayan cichlid

  Mayaheros urophthalmus

  11.8 in (30 cm)90 gal (340 L)75–86°F (24–30°C)

• 

  Pearlscale Cichlid

  Herichthys carpintis

  11.8 in (30 cm)55 gal (210 L)75–79°F (24–26°C)

• 

  Texas Cichlid

  Herichthys cyanoguttatus

  11.8 in (30 cm)66 gal (250 L)68–90°F (20–32°C)

• 

  Zebra tilapia

  Heterotilapia buttikoferi

  11.8 in (30 cm)159 gal (600 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)
• Red tiger motaguense

  Parachromis motaguensis

  11.8 in (30 cm)100 gal (380 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Blackbelt Cichlid

  Vieja maculicauda

  12.6 in (32 cm)66 gal (250 L)72–82°F (22–28°C)