Bigeye basketmouth

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a big-eyed ambush predator that hangs quietly in the mid-water, then lunges and inhales prey with a huge, expandable mouth. Keep it as a single fish or a pair, not a group. It is predatory rather than a brawler, but anything small enough to fit in its mouth will be eaten, so choose tankmates with caution: fish too large to swallow and not aggressive enough to harass it. Provide plenty of cover with wood and roots so it can sit and wait. Feed meaty foods such as chopped prawn, earthworms, mussel, and larger frozen items, weaning it onto non-living foods. A tank of at least 300 liters suits it.

In the wild

It lives in still and slow waters across the Amazon and Guiana lowlands, among sunken wood and leaf litter in dark, tannin-stained blackwater. Recreate that with warm, soft, acidic water of 24 to 28 C and a pH around 5.5 to 7.2. Tannins from driftwood and leaves, dim lighting, and lots of submerged wood give it the shaded ambush cover it hunts from.

Good to know

A member of the cichlid family, it reaches around 20 cm and has strikingly large eyes suited to hunting in dim, peaty water. Its species name nassa is Latin for a wicker fish trap, a reference to the way its mouth shoots forward into a funnel to engulf prey by suction. It is a substrate spawner that forms pairs, with moderate breeding difficulty.

Did you know

The name basketmouth is well earned. When prey comes close, the fish shoots its jaws forward into a wide funnel and sucks in a rush of water, swallowing the target almost faster than the eye can follow.

Common questions

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