Blue Acara

With iridescent blue-green spots on its gray-blue body, bright blue lines on its face and dark bars on its body, the blue acara is a beautiful and hardy cichlid. It is a good species for anyone who wants to start fishkeeping with cichlids: it adapts to a wide range of water values and breeds easily.

It lives in northern South America in slow-flowing streams, lakes and ditches, in vegetated waters with stones and roots on the bottom.

• Volume: At least 150 liters for a pair.
• Decor: Flat stones (spawning sites), roots, hiding places; fine sand.
• Plants: It leaves most plants alone but may dig during breeding; rooted plants can be protected with stones.
• Water: 24–26°C.

Omnivorous. Cichlid granules, frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp and mysis shrimp, with vegetables from time to time.

Relatively calm among cichlids; it shows its real territorial behavior during breeding. It eats small fish and shrimp that fit in its mouth.

Good companions: Peaceful to semi-aggressive fish of similar size: large tetras, angelfish, severum, corydoras, ancistrus.

Avoid: Small fish such as neons, shrimp, very aggressive Central American cichlids.

The blue acara is kept as a pair. To get a pair, raise 4–6 juveniles together; remove all but the pair that forms. A single acara also does fine. In a tank of 300 liters or more, two pairs can be kept, with territories divided by rocks.

The pair lays a few hundred eggs on a flat stone they have cleaned, and together they fan the eggs and guard the fry. A few days after hatching, the young are moved into pits, and later they swim as a school around the parents.

Hardy. In poor water, hole-in-the-head disease (HLLE) and bacterial infections can occur.

Males are larger, with longer and more pointed dorsal and anal fins; females are smaller and rounder. A reliable distinction is made by checking the papilla during spawning.