Cyrtocara moorii, also known as the dolphin cichlid, is a beautiful peaceful fish which should be kept in aquaria over 500 liters. They live above the sand, so in the aquarium there has to be enough free space above the sand, meaning no rocks from the back to the front window.

The males become very large, mine had passed 20 cm, and the older they become, the larger the bump on their head becomes. The females are smaller, in my aquarium 12 cm. They were placed in my aquarium at the same time and were inseperable. Gender is hard to determine with this type, you will be certain when they copulate.

During mating time the male defended his territory agressively (an area of sand next to the standing rock) and he chased all other fish away to the left half of my aquarium. He then had two third of the tank as his territory. This lasted until the spawning was finished, after that the peace returned. This happened 3 or 4 times a year.(Also see the pictures of deposal)

They eated anything I gave them, salad, shrimp-peas mix, artemia etc., so there were no problems concerning food.

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