Wesseli cichlid

Care at a glance

Overview

The wesseli cichlid is a slim, current-loving stream fish that is territorial and best kept as a single fish or a bonded pair rather than in a group. It works the lower half of the tank among rocks and stays near cover. It can be aggressive, especially when breeding, so choose tankmates with care: sturdy, similar-sized fish that hold their own, and give everyone room and broken sightlines. It is an omnivore, so feed quality pellets, frozen bloodworm and brine shrimp, and some vegetable matter. Because it wants strong flow and space to swim, give it a tank of around 250 liters or more with brisk water movement.

In the wild

This species lives only in a few fast, clear rivers on the Caribbean slope of northern Honduras, holding position among boulders in rapids and riffles. Give it well-oxygenated water with real current from a strong filter or circulation pump, a substrate of sand with rounded rocks and cobbles, and some driftwood. Keep it warm, about 24 to 29 C, with neutral to slightly hard water around pH 7.0 to 8.0. Clean, moving, oxygen-rich water is the key to keeping it well.

Good to know

Chortiheros wesseli belongs to the family Cichlidae and reaches around 10 centimeters in standard length, a slender rheophile marked by a bold black stripe from snout to tail. It was first described in 1996 as Theraps wesseli, then placed in its own genus, Chortiheros, in 2016. It is a substrate spawner: a pair cleans and guards a site among boulders in fast water and tends the eggs and fry, a spawn of moderate difficulty to manage at home.

Did you know

Its genus name, coined in 2016, joins the Ch'orti Maya people of its home watershed with Heros, an old cichlid genus name that itself means hero, so the fish is in effect the hero of the Chorti.

Common questions

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