Powder blue cichlid

Care at a glance

Overview

A group does well in a rocky tank of 200 liters or more with hard alkaline water at 24 to 27 C, pH 7.6 to 8.6. It is calmer than most mbuna but still territorial, so give it caves and keep it with similar sized rock dwellers. Feed a vegetable based diet with spirulina and algae wafers plus occasional frozen foods. Keep one male with several females to spread out breeding aggression.

In the wild

The powder blue lives among rock piles along the Mozambique side of Lake Malawi. It grazes algae and picks small invertebrates from the rocks in fairly shallow water. Males and females look almost identical, both wearing the same pale blue coat.

Good to know

Long sold as Pseudotropheus socolofi, this fish was moved to the genus Chindongo in a 2016 revision of the elongate mbuna group. It is one of the few mbuna where both sexes keep the full color rather than the males alone. The species is named after aquarium importer Ross Socolof.

Did you know

Its even temper for a mbuna makes it one of the more forgiving African cichlids for a first rift lake tank.

Related species

• Elongate mbuna

  Chindongo elongatus

  5.1 in (13 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Blockhead Cichlid

  Steatocranus casuarius

  4.7 in (12 cm)25 gal (95 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Electric yellow cichlid

  Labidochromis caeruleus

  4.7 in (12 cm)42 gal (160 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  White-Spotted Cichlid

  Tropheus duboisi

  4.7 in (12 cm)29 gal (110 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)

• 

  Yellow-tail acei

  Pseudotropheus acei

  4.7 in (12 cm)42 gal (160 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Lemon cichlid

  Neolamprologus leleupi

  4.5 in (11.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)73–81°F (23–27°C)