Sieboldii cichlid

Care at a glance

Overview

Siebold's cichlid is a large river grazer that needs strong current and high oxygen at the top of its care list. It is generally peaceful for its size but becomes territorial when breeding, so keep it singly or as a pair and choose robust tankmates rather than small, timid ones. It is sensitive to water quality, so large regular water changes matter. Feed a vegetable-leaning diet with prepared foods. Give it open, current-swept space among boulders. A tank of around 400 liters is a fair minimum for a fish this size.

In the wild

Talamancaheros sieboldii holds fast- and moderately-flowing boulder rivers on the Pacific slope of the Talamanca region, in western Panama near the Costa Rican border. Give it strong flow, high oxygen, a floor of rounded boulders and rock, and warm, neutral to hard water at pH 7.0-8.2 and 24-29 C.

Good to know

Talamancaheros sieboldii is a cichlid reaching around 25 to 30 centimeters, a torrent-country grazer that was placed in its own genus, Talamancaheros, in 2016. That same revision restricted the name sieboldii to Panama, moving the Costa Rican populations to Talamancaheros underwoodi. It is a biparental substrate spawner of medium breeding difficulty.

Did you know

The genus name comes from the Talamanca cordillera, the mountain chain whose fast rivers this cichlid drains, so the fish carries the name of its home range printed on the label.

Common questions

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