Egyptian Blue Lipped Mouth Brooder

[ZoddyZod]

Was having a good nose around my LFS last night and came across an unlabelled species that was simply stunning. At first I thought it was a dwarf cichlid I was not familiar with, due to the colour and the shape. Upon enquiring I was told they were Egyptian Mouth Brooders.....fortunately I didn't make a hasty purchase as later reading told me just how aggressive they are.

In my mind I want an African cichlid tank eventually, and these fish have made that desire a little stronger.

Anyone have them? Got any photos?

 

[toddnbecka]

They're fine with other species I've kept them with mbuna and Hap's before, but they're murder on conspecifics. Once they mature the males are as likely to kill the females as spawn with them, and rival males are even worse.

 

[ZoddyZod]

They were in a holding tank with Congo tetra. Wasn't going well!

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The fish was likely Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor. There is another related fish that is similar which I have kept, Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi. I was given a pair as I wanted to have a chance to observe mouth brooding in action. While my pics below don't show it, the male gets the same blue lips. I almost looks like blue lipstick.

You must remove the male once the fm is holding. You must either strip the fry from the fm or else remove her from the tank as soon after she spits as possible as a day or two afterward she sees the fry as food not as her children.

I was told that inch for inch they are one of the nastiest cichlids around. I believe it. The male eventually killed the female.

This was the male soon after I got them into the tank aafter their spending 3 days in a bag:

Poor pic of the fm holding- you can see how swollen her mouth is as its full of fry:

Here she allowed a few babies out for a bit to play in the moss. You can see the male lurking in the background. He was removed from the tank not long after this pic was taken: