Nsess cichlid

Care at a glance

Overview

The nsess cichlid is a slim hunter from a small Cameroonian crater lake, kept as a small group. It works the lower water and open swimming lanes and is peaceful toward fish of its own size, but it is a predator of small prey, so choose tankmates with care and keep nothing small enough to be eaten. Give it clear open swimming room rather than a maze of rock. Feed meaty foods: frozen and fresh items such as bloodworm, mysis and chopped seafood, along with quality pellets. A tank of at least 250 liters suits a group, with warm, clear, moderately hard water.

In the wild

Stomatepia mariae lives only in Lake Barombi Mbo, a small volcanic crater lake in western Cameroon. Its water is warm, clear and moderately hard, so aim for a temperature range of 23–27 C and a pH of 7.0–8.0. It is an open-water fish, so give it clear swimming room over a sand floor with some structure at the edges, rather than filling the tank with rock.

Good to know

Stomatepia mariae belongs to the cichlid family and reaches about 14 centimeters. It is a mouthbrooding cichlid and one of a small flock of species found only in Lake Barombi Mbo, all descended from a common ancestor trapped in the crater. It is a predator that will even snatch prey from the lake's freshwater crabs, and it is now listed as critically endangered.

Did you know

Barombi Mbo is a flooded volcanic crater barely a couple of kilometers across, yet it holds its own set of cichlids found nowhere else on Earth; the nsess is one of them, and the whole flock is now under threat.

Common questions

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