Belted pike cichlid

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a large, heavy-bodied pike cichlid that cruises and ambushes along the bottom, and it needs serious space. Keep one specimen, or a carefully matched pair, and never a group. It is a predator that will eat any fish it can swallow, so its only realistic tankmates are large, armored catfish and other robust giants; choose them with caution and give everyone cover. Feed meaty foods such as whole prawn, mussel, earthworms, and large sinking pellets, and skip live feeders. Because it grows big and patrols long distances, give it a tank of at least 600 liters with a long footprint, driftwood, and a sand floor.

In the wild

It patrols the beaches, wood piles, and drop-offs of large rivers in the upper Amazon basin, in warm, soft, slightly acidic water. Recreate that with a temperature of 24 to 28 C and a chemistry around pH 5.5 to 7.2. A long open floor of sand, backed by big driftwood and some rock to form ambush cover, matches its home far better than a cramped or heavily planted tank.

Good to know

A member of the cichlid family, this pike is a substantial fish that can approach 26 cm. In a 2023 revision of the pike cichlids, the dusky lugubris group was moved into a new genus, Lugubria, and this species took the name cincta, Latin for belted, after its banded markings. It is a cave spawner that pairs off and is considered difficult to breed.

Did you know

Its genus name Lugubria comes from the Latin for mournful or gloomy, first used for a dark-colored relative. The name fits a shadowy, patient ambush hunter that spends much of its time lying in wait among sunken wood.

Common questions

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