Green slender-tail hap

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a large, fast, open water predator from Lake Malawi that needs a very big tank, on the order of 800 liters or more with a long footprint for swimming. It can be kept as one male with a few females, but only alongside other large Malawi cichlids; anything small enough to fit in its mouth will be eaten, and it is too big and boisterous for a standard community. Give it open water above sand with rockwork around the edges rather than filling the tank. Feed meaty foods suited to a fish eater: quality pellets and frozen items such as krill and mysis, avoiding a diet of live feeder fish. This is a fish for keepers with the space and filtration to match its size.

In the wild

The green slender tail hap ranges over open water and sand flats in Lake Malawi, chasing down smaller fish across the bottom and midwater. Give it the lake's hard, alkaline water, warm at 24–28 C and around pH 7.6–8.6, with a broad sand floor, open swimming room, and rock structure toward the back and sides. Strong filtration and generous tank length are the limiting factors for keeping it well.

Good to know

Buccochromis lepturus is a member of the family Cichlidae and a large predatory hap, reaching about 35 centimeters, with males flushing metallic green as they mature. The species name means slender tailed, for the long, tapering rear body and tail that give it speed in open water. Like other haps it is a maternal mouthbrooder, the female incubating the eggs in her mouth, and breeding is rated as moderate.

Did you know

Its name points to the tapering tail, and that shape is the point: a slim, streamlined rear end is what lets an open water hunter accelerate onto smaller fish in the clear water off Malawi's coasts.

Common questions

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