Had a browse around my LFS last night, stumbled upon an unlabelled species that caught my eye - absolutely stunning. Initially thought it was a dwarf cichlid I'd never seen before, given the colours and shape. Asked the staff about it and they told me it was an Egyptkento4 Mouth Brooder. Luckily, I didn't rush into buying any, as some research later on revealed just how aggressive they can be.
Still, those fish have got me more keen on setting up an African cichlid tank in the future. Anyone keep them? Got any pics to share?
Egyptian blue lipped mouthbrooder fish care
Re: Egyptian blue lipped mouthbrooder fish care
I've had them with other species, no issues, mbuna and Hap's are fine. But conspecifics are a different story altogether. The males are brutal once they mature, just as likely to kill the females as they are to spawn with them. Rival males are even worse, it's a real bloodbath.
Re: Egyptian blue lipped mouthbrooder fish care
The Egyptkento4 Mouth Brooders I saw were being kept in a temporary setup with some Congo tetras, and let's just say it wasn't exactly a harmonious coexistence.
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TwinTankman - Posts: 65
- Joined: Sun Jan 09, 2022 1:55 am
Re: Egyptian blue lipped mouthbrooder fish care
I've had some experience with a related species, Pseudocrenilabrus nicholsi, which I was given a pair of to observe mouth brooding. The male develops the same blue lips as the Egyptkento4 Mouth Brooder, almost like he's wearing blue lipstick.
To breed them successfully, you need to remove the male once the female is holding. You have two options: either strip the fry from the female or remove her from the tank as soon as possible after she spits. If you don't, she'll start seeing the fry as food within a day or two.
I've been told that these cichlids are one of the nastiest around, inch for inch. Unfortunately, I can attest to that - the male eventually killed the female in my tank.
Here's a picture of the male when I first got them settled:
And here's a poor photo of the female holding - you can see how swollen her mouth is with all the fry:
In this next picture, the female let a few babies out to play in the moss. You can see the male lurking in the background, but I removed him from the tank shortly after this photo was taken:
To breed them successfully, you need to remove the male once the female is holding. You have two options: either strip the fry from the female or remove her from the tank as soon as possible after she spits. If you don't, she'll start seeing the fry as food within a day or two.
I've been told that these cichlids are one of the nastiest around, inch for inch. Unfortunately, I can attest to that - the male eventually killed the female in my tank.
Here's a picture of the male when I first got them settled:
And here's a poor photo of the female holding - you can see how swollen her mouth is with all the fry:
In this next picture, the female let a few babies out to play in the moss. You can see the male lurking in the background, but I removed him from the tank shortly after this photo was taken: