Yellow firemouth

Care at a glance

Overview

The yellow firemouth is another firemouth relative, kept singly or as a single pair that defends a small territory when spawning. It stays near the bottom, sifting sand and grazing, and does best in a calm, well-planted tank with open sand. It is mostly peaceful and leans on a gill-cover bluff rather than real fighting, but tankmates still need some care: gentle, similar-sized community fish, and nothing pushy, since Thorichthys sulk and sicken in poor water. Feed sinking pellets, frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp, and a little vegetable food. A tank of around 250 liters or more with sand, wood, and plants suits a pair.

In the wild

This cichlid lives in the clear, silty-margined lakes and slow rivers of the Peten basin in northern Guatemala and nearby lowlands. Give it a soft sand floor to sift, driftwood, some flat stones, and planted areas for cover. Warmth of about 24 to 29 C and moderately hard, near-neutral water at pH 7.0 to 8.2 suit it well. Like other firemouths it dislikes stale, nitrate-heavy water, so keep up steady filtration and frequent water changes.

Good to know

Thorichthys affinis is a cichlid reaching up to about 17 centimeters, with gold flanks beneath the red throat the firemouths are named for. It is the Peten counterpart of the more familiar firemouth cichlid and shares the family habit of flaring bright gill covers to bluff rivals. It is a biparental substrate spawner: a pair guards eggs laid in the open and shepherds the fry together, and breeding it is only moderately difficult.

Did you know

Firemouths and their relatives are named for the fiery red or orange throat a displaying fish shows off, a colour that flares brightest when a fish faces down a rival at the edge of its territory.

Common questions

Related species

• 

  Yellow-cheek firemouth

  Thorichthys helleri

  Freshwater

  6.7 in (17 cm)66 gal (250 L)75–84°F (24–29°C)
• Callolepis firemouth

  Thorichthys callolepis

  Freshwater

  6.7 in (17 cm)66 gal (250 L)75–84°F (24–29°C)

• 

  Blue flash firemouth

  Thorichthys aureus

  Freshwater

  7.1 in (18 cm)66 gal (250 L)75–84°F (24–29°C)

• 

  Ellioti cichlid

  Thorichthys maculipinnis

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  5.9 in (15 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)

• 

  Firemouth cichlid

  Thorichthys meeki

  Freshwater

  5.9 in (15 cm)30 gal (115 L)73–82°F (23–28°C)
• Blackgullet firemouth

  Thorichthys pasionis

  Freshwater

  7.9 in (20 cm)66 gal (250 L)75–84°F (24–29°C)