Foa's featherfin

Cyathopharynx foai

Also known as Cyathopharynx foae, Green featherfin

FreshwaterFish

Foa's featherfin (Cyathopharynx foai) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 75–81°F (24–27°C)
pH: 8.0–9.0
Adult size: 7.9 in (20 cm)
Minimum tank: 119 gal (450 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: Hard
Rarity: Common
Origin: Lake Tanganyika
Family: Cichlidae

Overview

Cyathopharynx foai is a display fish for a mature, roomy Tanganyika tank. Keep one male with three or more females over deep sand. The male builds a wide crater nest and spends his day rebuilding and displaying over it, shifting through blues and yellows by the hour. It needs pristine water, stable alkalinity and no competition for the sand. House it with Cyprichromis above and keep shell dwellers well away from the nest.

In the wild

Cyathopharynx foai displays over sand aprons just below the rocky shoreline of Lake Tanganyika, where males clear crater nests that can approach a meter across. Water there is hard, alkaline and unusually stable. Keep it at 24 to 27 degrees Celsius and pH 8.0 to 9.0, with deep fine sand and a large uninterrupted floor.

Good to know

Cyathopharynx foai reaches about 20 centimeters and was long treated as a form of C. furcifer before being recognized separately. Males trail extended pelvic fins tipped with yellow spatulate lobes that they flick through display. It is a maternal mouthbrooder, and spawning is difficult for a practical reason: the male will not perform without a nest, and the nest needs floor space most tanks cannot offer.

Did you know

Males tip their pelvic streamers with egg-yellow lures; females chase the fake eggs and collect the real ones mid-fuss.

Tank mates

Foa's featherfin is a mostly peaceful, social species that keeps to the middle. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.