Eyespot dwarf pike

Wallaciia notophthalmus

Also known as Crenicichla notophthalmus, Notophthalmus dwarf pike

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 75–82°F (24–28°C)
pH: 4.8–6.5
Adult size: 3.5 in (9 cm)
Minimum tank: 42 gal (160 L)
Temperament: Aggressive
Social behavior: Solitary
Tankmates: Tankmates with caution
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Hard
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Lower Negro and middle Amazon
Family: Cichlidae

Overview

This is a dwarf pike cichlid scaled for a normal tank, kept as a single fish or a bonded pair rather than a group. It lurks near the bottom among wood and leaf litter, ambushing small prey. It is a micropredator that will eat anything small enough to swallow, and it can be nippy, so choose tankmates carefully: peaceful fish too large to be eaten but not big enough to bully it, kept out of its litter-strewn corner. Feed small meaty foods, frozen bloodworm, mysis and chopped items, and wean it onto prepared foods over time. A pair needs a tank of at least 160 liters aquascaped with wood, leaf litter and shade.

In the wild

Wallaciia notophthalmus lives in the blackwater shallows of the lower Rio Negro and middle Amazon, threading through leaf litter and submerged wood in soft, acidic, tea-colored water. Recreate that with a bed of leaf litter, tangles of driftwood and a sandy floor, stained with tannins from botanicals. Keep it soft and acidic, roughly 24 to 28 C at a pH between 4.8 and 6.5, under dim lighting.

Good to know

A pike cichlid in the family Cichlidae, it reaches only about 9 centimeters. Females carry the eyespot the name records, a dark ocellus ringed in red on the dorsal fin. It is a cave spawner that hides its eggs and guards the fry, but its soft, acidic water needs make aquarium breeding hard. A 2023 revision of the pike cichlids moved it into the new genus Wallaciia.

Did you know

Its new genus name honors Alfred Russel Wallace, who studied the fishes of the Rio Negro in the 1850s and lost most of his specimens when his ship caught fire on the voyage home; the science was later rebuilt from what survived.