Red Devil cichlid

Scientific name: Amphilophus labiatus

Common name:Red Devil cichlid

Region: Central America - Nicaragua

Size: max 16 inches (40 cm)

Color: Different variations in color for the Red Devil Cichlid fish exist. You’ll see them in banded, red/orange, silver/red, yellow marbled, and even a ‘combination’ of these markings - resulting in a ‘Black Marbled’ coloration.

Water Chemistry: pH: 7.2-7.8, hard water

Temperature: 76-80

Aggression: highly aggressive

Compatibility: None. Well, not entirely, but almost. This aquarium fish is very aggressive, so if you’re going to keep it with anything, look for other tropical fish that can hold their own, such as Oscar cichlids or Jaguar cichlids.

Diet: Omnivorous.

How to breed: Sexing these cichlid fish is not that hard. Males will be longer in length than the females, and are much more powerfully built. Males also have a large growing bulge on the forehead, called a ‘Nuchal’ hump. Successfully keeping and spawning these highly aggressive, powerful aquarium fish, once adult sizes are achieved, is best attempted with the ‘partial divider’ method in six foot long fish tanks, to protect the females from male aggression. They will spawn on a flat rock and will defend the fry until they are free swimming.

General: The Red Devil cichlid definitely live up to their name. They have a tendency to hate pretty much every tank mate in the aquarium, and are very territorial. You may be best to keep one on its own.