Stripeback buccochromis

Care at a glance

Overview

A pursuit predator built for open water, and it needs a tank long enough to use. Keep one, with tankmates too large to be chased down, because anything slim and quick enough to look like prey will be treated as prey. Feed on a schedule with prepared and frozen meaty foods rather than scattering food, so it does not learn to strike at any movement. It grows steadily and is a decades-long commitment at this size.

In the wild

Buccochromis nototaenia courses over shallow sand in Lake Malawi, running down small fish in open water rather than ambushing them. Keep it at 24 to 27 degrees Celsius and pH 7.5 to 8.5 in hard alkaline water, with a long uninterrupted swimming run and a sand floor.

Good to know

Buccochromis nototaenia reaches about 23 centimeters, with a black stripe along the upper flank of a streamlined body. Males develop blue and yellow through the head and fins as they mature. It is a maternal mouthbrooder, and breeding is hard mostly because the tank has to be large enough for the male to hold a display area without cornering the female.

Did you know

Buccochromis run prey down in the open, sprinters in a lake that mostly hires ambushers.

Common questions

Related species

• Heterotaenia hap

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• Yellow buccochromis

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• Green slender-tail hap

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• 

  Chanchito

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