Cave otopharynx

Care at a glance

Overview

A modest, cave-holding hap from Lake Malawi that is best kept as a single fish, or a male with one or two females, rather than a big group of its own kind. It lives at the bottom, where males claim a small cave in the rock and sand and blue up at the entrance. It leans predatory, taking small invertebrates and fry, so feed meaty frozen and sinking foods. It is peaceful by Malawi standards but territorial around its cave, so pick tankmates with care and keep it with other calm, hard-water cichlids that are not too pushy. Around 300 liters with rock caves over a sandy floor gives it room.

In the wild

Otopharynx antron lives along Lake Malawi, over mixed sand and rock where males take shelter in small caves and hollows. Malawi is a hard, alkaline rift lake, so give it stable, mineral-rich water with a pH between 7.5 and 8.5 and a temperature of about 24 to 27 C. Build a floor of sand with piled stone that leaves genuine caves and shaded overhangs, since the fish is named for the cavities it calls home.

Good to know

Otopharynx antron belongs to the family Cichlidae and reaches about 12 centimeters. Its name comes from the Greek antron, meaning cave, for the sheltered rock hollows the males defend. Like other Malawi haplochromines it is a maternal mouthbrooder: the female carries the fertilized eggs and fry in her mouth for several weeks before releasing them. It was one of two cave-dwelling Otopharynx described together from the lake in the 1990s.

Did you know

The species name antron is simply the Greek word for cave, and the fish earns it. Males set up home inside small rock caves, defending the dark space and coloring up at the mouth of it to court passing females.

Common questions

Related species

• Heterodon hap

  Otopharynx heterodon

  Freshwater

  5.1 in (13 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Sulphur-head hap

  Otopharynx lithobates

  Freshwater

  6.3 in (16 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Four-spot otopharynx

  Otopharynx tetrastigma

  Freshwater

  6.3 in (16 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Maclareni pungu

  Pungu maclareni

  Freshwater

  4.7 in (12 cm)53 gal (200 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)

• 

  Seven-band convict

  Amatitlania septemfasciata

  Freshwater

  4.7 in (12 cm)42 gal (160 L)75–84°F (24–29°C)

• 

  T-bar cichlid

  Amatitlania sajica

  Freshwater

  4.7 in (12 cm)40 gal (150 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)