Yellowjacket cichlid

Care at a glance

Overview

The yellowjacket cichlid is a predatory Central American guapote, best kept alone or as a single mated pair, never with fish small enough to eat. It hunts from the lower water, lying in wait and then lunging, and will take any tankmate that fits in its mouth. It is very aggressive and territorial, so tankmates need real care: only large, sturdy cichlids in a big tank, and be ready to separate a spawning pair from everything else. Feed meaty foods such as pellets, frozen fish, prawns, and earthworms. A single fish or pair needs a tank of around 500 liters or more with rock and wood to break up territory.

In the wild

This cichlid hunts weedy lagoons, backwaters, and slow rivers along the Atlantic slope from Mexico to Honduras. A tank for it should be large, with a sand floor, sturdy rock and driftwood structure to set territory boundaries, and open lanes for a fish that ambushes prey. It does best warm, about 24 to 29 C, in neutral to hard water of pH 7.0 to 8.2. A big filter and frequent water changes are needed to match a large, meat-eating fish.

Good to know

Parachromis friedrichsthalii is a predatory cichlid reaching about 33 centimeters, yellow to orange with black spotting and a bold dark band along the flank. It is one of the guapotes, the large hunting cichlids of Central America. It is a substrate spawner and a committed parent: a pair lays eggs on a cleaned surface and both defend the eggs and fry hard. Breeding is of moderate difficulty, the main problem being pair aggression in a shared tank.

Did you know

Its common name borrows from the wasp: like a yellowjacket it wears a bold yellow-and-black pattern, and it backs the warning up as one of the more determined ambush predators among Central American cichlids.

Common questions

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