This is another beautiful Cichlid Electric Blue Hap (Sciaenochromis ahli) from Lake Malawi. The above specimen is an exquisite male. Females and juveniles are gray drab in comparison. Electric Blue Haps in general are more peaceful than their mbuna counterparts and should not be mixed.
This species grows to approximately 7 inches. The tank should contain plenty of calcareous material in the form of coral gravel or sand. The aquarium should provide plenty of caves and rock work for these fishes. Tufa rock serves this purpose well. All of these materials are calcareous which helps to maintain the high pH levels which they prefer (pH 7.8 to 8.2). In addition calcareous substrata will contribute to maintaining the water hardness levels as all Malawi Cichlids require hard water.
Feeding the Electric Blue Hap should not pose a problem as they are good feeders. They readily take flake foods of all kinds including algae based flakes, pellets, tablet foods as well as meaty foods such as beef heart, shrimps or prawns. Naturally these fish have a lot of algae in their staple diet, so foods containing algae should be offered. They will also eat chopped lettuce.
Sciaenochromis ahli spawns in the typical Malawi Cichlid fashion. The male performs his song and dance to attract the female. Spreading his fins and body shaking. The female lays the eggs and picks them up in her mouth. They are fertilised as the pair continue with the spawning ritual. The eggs are then incubated in the females mouth until hatching, where they are fully formed and about 1cm in length upon release.
