Chilotes hap

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a thick-lipped Lake Victoria cichlid that is calm for a haplochromine, best kept as a single male or a male with a female or two rather than crowded with its own kind. It works slowly over the rocks near the bottom, pressing its fleshy lips into cracks to suck out insect larvae, so feed frozen bloodworm and other small meaty foods along with a good pellet. It is fairly peaceful but the males color up and hold territory, so choose tankmates with some care and keep it with other steady Victorian or hard-water cichlids of similar size. Around 250 liters with rock structure gives it room.

In the wild

Paralabidochromis chilotes lives around the rocky shores of Lake Victoria in East Africa, working the sheltered zones where stone meets sand. The lake is warm and moderately hard and alkaline, so keep the pH between 7 and 8.5 and the temperature around 23 to 27 C. Give it a layout of piled rock with real crevices and cracks to probe, over a sandy floor, since crevice feeding is central to how this fish makes its living.

Good to know

Paralabidochromis chilotes is a member of the family Cichlidae reaching around 14 to 17 centimeters, easily known by its swollen, lobed lips and pointed blue snout. The fleshy lips seal against rock so it can suck insect larvae from crevices. Males carry red and yellow on the flanks with orange spots on the anal fin, while females are plainer grey. It is a maternal mouthbrooder, the female carrying the brood in her mouth.

Did you know

Big rubbery lips like these are a crack-feeding tool that has evolved over and over. Thick-lipped cichlids turned up separately in Lake Malawi, Lake Tanganyika, and here in Lake Victoria, three lakes independently arriving at the same fleshy gasket for prising food out of stone.

Common questions

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