Steatocranus sp red eye is an undescribed (not scientifically studied or named) member of the Buffalo Head Cichlid group from the mighty Congo River. The only group member that's a regular in the hobby is Steatocranus casuarius, the buffalo head.
Red eyes are cool fish with a very specialized snail eating habit. They poke a hole in the snail shell and slurp their food out. My males piled empty, punctured shells beside the doorways to their caves. I've never seen that with casuarius. As a person named Gary, I should feel solidarity with Sponge Bob's pet snail, but frankly, I don't. I found this snail eating habit of theirs quite useful, and quite fascinating. Those piles of shells, like trophies, were food for thought.
Buffalo heads in general come from fast water, and the great danger to them is being swept away. The rapids in the river are deep and violent, and a small fish can easily be pulled into dark, oxygen less waters they could never survive. The rapids are barriers for species formation, with Steatocranus of various similar shapes occupying the areas between each rapids, and never meeting in nature.
These aren't good community fish - not even close. They hate everything, glowering in their caves at all the annoying kids that approach their lawns. What makes that no problem is they can barely swim. They are hoppers, with reduced swim bladders as an adaptation to staying low in violent currents. They want to kill their tankmates, but they simply can't catch anything faster than a snail. They are characters to watch.
You'll probably only ever see the standard buffalo head, and if you do and have a free tank, go for it. It's a lovely family of grumpy cave dwellers. Don't make the rookie mistake of thinking they are "African Cichlids". Yes, they are African, but new Cichlid keepers tend to talk about fish from one lake (Lake Malawi) as if that were an entire continent. These are river Cichlids.
Medium hard to soft waters with good oxygen levels and a temperature of 24-26 suits them just fine. I hope you find some of this group, and enjo
y them as much as I have.
Steatocranus casuarius, tinanti, red eye, brown pearl and others.
Red eyes are cool fish with a very specialized snail eating habit. They poke a hole in the snail shell and slurp their food out. My males piled empty, punctured shells beside the doorways to their caves. I've never seen that with casuarius. As a person named Gary, I should feel solidarity with Sponge Bob's pet snail, but frankly, I don't. I found this snail eating habit of theirs quite useful, and quite fascinating. Those piles of shells, like trophies, were food for thought.
Buffalo heads in general come from fast water, and the great danger to them is being swept away. The rapids in the river are deep and violent, and a small fish can easily be pulled into dark, oxygen less waters they could never survive. The rapids are barriers for species formation, with Steatocranus of various similar shapes occupying the areas between each rapids, and never meeting in nature.
These aren't good community fish - not even close. They hate everything, glowering in their caves at all the annoying kids that approach their lawns. What makes that no problem is they can barely swim. They are hoppers, with reduced swim bladders as an adaptation to staying low in violent currents. They want to kill their tankmates, but they simply can't catch anything faster than a snail. They are characters to watch.
You'll probably only ever see the standard buffalo head, and if you do and have a free tank, go for it. It's a lovely family of grumpy cave dwellers. Don't make the rookie mistake of thinking they are "African Cichlids". Yes, they are African, but new Cichlid keepers tend to talk about fish from one lake (Lake Malawi) as if that were an entire continent. These are river Cichlids.
Medium hard to soft waters with good oxygen levels and a temperature of 24-26 suits them just fine. I hope you find some of this group, and enjo
Steatocranus casuarius, tinanti, red eye, brown pearl and others.
