Istlanus cichlid

Care at a glance

Overview

This is a large, very aggressive cichlid from the rivers of Mexico's Balsas basin, best kept singly or as one tested pair in a big tank of at least 450 liters. It is shy while young but grows into a territorial digger that is a poor fit for a mixed community unless the tank is large and the tankmates are big and robust. Provide plenty of solid shelter among rock and wood so weaker fish can escape and a pair can hold a territory. It is mainly an insect and invertebrate feeder in the wild, so offer a varied diet of sinking pellets, frozen foods such as bloodworm and prawn, and some plant matter. It digs heavily, most of all when it comes into breeding condition.

In the wild

The istlanus cichlid lives in the rivers of the Balsas basin in the dry Pacific hinterland of Mexico, in warm water flowing over stony beds. Recreate that with a sand and gravel floor, large stones and driftwood for cover, and some current from the filter. Keep it warm at 24–29 C and from neutral to hard and mildly alkaline, around pH 7.0–8.2, with strong filtration to suit a large, digging fish.

Good to know

Amphilophus istlanus is a member of the family Cichlidae and a large cichlid, reaching about 30 centimeters, rose washed on the flanks with dark saddle markings. It was described by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and John Otterbein Snyder in 1899. A spawning pair cleans a rock or root, lays its eggs there, and defends the fry together, with spawning of moderate difficulty.

Did you know

It is the only cichlid native to the whole Balsas basin, and that lone status now counts against it, as introduced tilapia and other cichlids spread through its rivers and crowd it out.

Common questions

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