Parachromis managuensis
Parachromis managuensis
Written by Monday, 28 June 2010 00:00
General
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Scientific Name or classification |
Parachromis managuensis (Günther; 1866)
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Synonyms |
Cichlasoma managuensis, Nandopsis managuensis, Parapetenia managuensis, Parachromis gulosus; original description as Heros managuensis. |
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Common Name |
jaguar cichlid, managuense cichlid, managua cichlid, guapote tigre, Aztec cichlid, spotted guapote, jaguar guapote |
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Family |
Cichlidae |
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Type Locality |
Lake Managua, Nicaragua, Central America. |
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Etymology |
Para (from Greek para, meaning close to, next to) chromis (looking like a chromis fish) managuensis (from lake Managua) |
Species Information
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Size (TL or SL in cm) |
Male: 50 cm SL, female: 30 cm SL. |
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Identification |
The Jaguar cichlid is a large, robust cichlid, displaying a shade of yellow/bronze throughout the body. This yellow base colour is decorated by black spots all over the flanks of the fish. A series of several large black dots on the body of the fish are less evident (and not permanent) on males. The fins are dark or black, especially when the fish assumes spawning colours. Full grown mature males lose all the bars seen on younger individuals and have a 'jaguar' patterning evenly distributed over their body and fins. |
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Sexing |
Adult males are larger than adult females.The series of large black dots that run horizontally along the lateral line area of the female do not disappear as is the case with the male when the fish is displaying. |
Habitat
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Natural distribution |
Costa Rica (native), Ecuador (native), Honduras (native), Nicaragua (native). |
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pH |
7.2-8.0 |
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Temperature |
26° - 29° C |
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Other parameters |
Slight to moderate alkaline, medium to hard (or even very hard) water. |
Husbandry
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Feeding |
Large size pellets for cichlids, some vegetable matter, will eat almost everything offered to it. |
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Compatibility |
Only very large, robust cichlids. Very large armored catfish may be accepted if added in the tank before the introduction of the cichid. Really aggressive when spawning it will kill smaller tankmates. If kept in a large enough tank, the jaguar cichlid will claim a small territory and co-exist with other central American cichlids with little problem. |
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Suggested Tankmates |
Ex-cichlasoma festae, A. citrinellum, A. labiatus, ex-Cichlasoma pearsei. Very large, aggressive, grown up armored catfish like L25, L24, L160. |
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Furniture |
Sand, large pieces of bogwood creating caves and overhands, large stones. Since the fish is very strong it may move decoration around. Gluing items (especially stones) together may be a good practice. |
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Recommended Tank Size |
1000 lit for a grown up pair, more than 3000 lit for a community of large cichlids. In this case, an overall length of 4 meters or longer is highly recommended. If keeping a single adult 400 lit is plenty as the fish is an ambush predator and does not require a lot of swimming space. |
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Behaviour
in |
Reasonably aggressive when not protecting fry or its spawning site. When provoked it will become very aggressive and will kill the offender. The fish requires a cave to call it home. See also Living with the Parachromis Giants . |
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Other remarks |
Slow grower when young (compared to other Central American cichlids like the ex-Cichlasoma pearsei or the Amphilophus citrinellus), will grow much faster once it becomes one year old. Our four years old male is 35 cm TL and weighs 1200 grams. |
Breeding
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Breeding |
Quite tricky to pair them off. The male may or may not accept the female especially if the difference is size is large. Once paired, they will spawn easily and the fry are quite easy to raise. Substrate spawner. Always leave some of the fry with the parents otherwise the male may turn against the female. Breeding reported in detail. |
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References
(1) Cichlidae
(2) Wikipedia
Photos by the authors.
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