Chocolate Cichlid

With its deep, oval body the chocolate cichlid resembles a severum, but it is larger and stockier. Its color varies with mood and age from olive green to dark chocolate brown; in mature fish the lower half of the body takes on reddish tones. There are dark blotches in the middle of the body and above the caudal peduncle, and fine shiny green spots on the head. Fish in which green tones dominate are also sold in English as "emerald cichlid".

Its temperament is typical of large Amazon cichlids: in daily life it is calm and somewhat timid, but as a fish that reaches 25 cm, it eats fish that fit in its mouth.

It lives in the Amazon basin, especially in slow-flowing river tributaries and flooded lakes in Peru, Colombia and Brazil. It shelters among fallen trees, roots and leaf litter. In the rainy season it spreads into the flooded forest and feeds on insects, small fish and plant matter.

• Volume: At least 300 liters and 150 cm of length for a single fish or a pair.
• Decor: Large roots, flat stones, a sand substrate and dim light. Hard-leaved plants usually survive.
• Water: Soft to moderately hard, slightly acidic water; a 30–40% water change every week.
• Setting: It becomes skittish in noisy, very busy spots.

Omnivorous. Use a quality cichlid granule as the staple; vary the diet with frozen shrimp, mysis, bloodworms and vegetables. One or two meals a day are enough for adults. Plant-based foods aid digestion and reduce the risk of bloat.

Docile for its size; it gets along well with calm fish of similar size. During breeding it fiercely defends its spawning site.

Good companions: Severum, uaru, Geophagus species, festivum, large tetras, silver dollars, plecos.

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

It can be kept alone. For a pair, raise juveniles together and choose a pair that forms. In a very large tank several fish can live together, but once a pair forms, territorial behavior toward the others increases.

The pair lays a few hundred eggs on a cleaned stone or root. During breeding the colors darken and the contrast increases. Both parents guard the eggs and fry. The fry are fed brine shrimp nauplii.

• Hole-in-the-head disease (HLLE): With poor water quality and a monotonous diet.
• Intestinal parasites: In wild fish; quarantine is recommended.
• Stress: Next to aggressive tankmates the colors fade and food is refused.
• White spot (ich): Introduced with new fish; a quarantine of two to three weeks is recommended.

Difficult to tell from the outside. Males grow larger and may develop a nuchal hump with age; their fin tips are more pointed. A reliable distinction is made by the papilla.