Demasoni Cichlid

About

The Demasoni Cichlid (Pseudotropheus demasoni) is a dwarf mbuna from a single rocky outcrop in Tanzania's Lake Malawi, and it packs a remarkable amount of personality, and attitude, into a small frame. Males display deep blue-black vertical banding that intensifies dramatically when they're asserting dominance or courting, which happens often. Despite its modest size, this is widely considered one of the most combative mbuna in the hobby. It will challenge fish much larger than itself without hesitation, and it reserves particular hostility for its own kind. Subdominant males can be relentlessly persecuted. Managing that aggression is really the central challenge of keeping this species. The conventional approach is counterintuitive: overcrowding actually helps, because it prevents any single fish from locking down territory and spreading aggression across the whole group. Keeping a harem of several females per male is also important. One of its more charming quirks is its habit of hugging rockwork closely, often swimming sideways or even inverted while investigating caves and crevices. Behavior you don't see in many other mbuna. It's a dedicated herbivore with flat bicuspid teeth built for grazing algae from rock surfaces, so a plant-heavy diet is essential. First described only in 1994, it's a relatively recent addition to the hobby and is best suited to keepers who already have some mbuna experience under their belt.