Halfbanded pike cichlid

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a medium sized pike cichlid, a predatory ambush hunter that is best kept singly or as a bonded pair. It holds the lower water among cover and will eat any fish small enough to fit in its mouth, so choose tankmates that are clearly too large to swallow, and give it a tank of at least 400 liters. Break up the floor with driftwood, roots, and rock so it has sight lines and hiding spots and cannot dominate the whole tank; this also lets a pair set up without constant fighting. Feed meaty foods such as pellets, frozen prawn, mysis, and earthworm, and avoid relying on live feeder fish, which carry disease and offer poor nutrition. If you want a pair, it helps to raise a group of youngsters and let one form.

In the wild

The halfbanded pike cichlid lives in the weedy channels and slow margins of the Orinoco basin, in warm, soft water over sand and leaf strewn bottoms with plenty of submerged cover. Recreate that with a sandy floor, driftwood, roots, and some plants to form thickets it can lurk in. Keep the water warm at 24–28 C and soft and slightly acidic to neutral, around pH 5.5–7.2, with clean, gently moving water.

Good to know

Crenicichla geayi is a member of the family Cichlidae, a pike cichlid reaching about 22 centimeters, with an elongated body, a large mouth, and short flank bars beneath a dark horizontal stripe that give it its common name. It is a cave or crevice spawner in which both parents guard the eggs and fry, and breeding is considered difficult.

Did you know

The species name geayi honors Francois Geay, a French naturalist and collector whose expeditions through Venezuela and the Guianas sent home many of the fishes later named by museum scientists in Europe.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Jegu's pike cichlid

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• 

  Ringtail pike cichlid

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• Sven's pike cichlid

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• Alta pike cichlid

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• Proteus pike cichlid

  Crenicichla proteus

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• Zebra pike cichlid

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