THE STEINHART AQUARIUM - Gulf of Guinea Science ...

caragua; in Lakes Nicaragua and Managua.
Habitat: Lakes; rarely enters streams or rivers.
Appearance: Body pinkish-red. Very long, reddish
pectoral fin. Length to 24 cm.
Diet: Small fishes, snails, insect larvae, worms
and other bottom-dwelling organisms.
Reproduction and Development: Fertilization
is external. Female lays 600–700 eggs and
guards the clutch.
Convict Cichlid
Archocentrus nigrofasciatus (Cichlidae)
Cichlids
Distribution: El Salvador to Guatemala.
Habitat: Adults inhabit flowing water from small
creeks and streams to the shallows of large and
fast flowing rivers; prefer rocky habitats and in
the various cracks and crevices or among roots
and debris in warm pools of springs.
Appearance: Length to 10 cm. Laterally
compressed silvery body with eight black bands.
Dorsal midsection of body burnt orange.
Diet: Worms, crustaceans, insects, fish and
plant material.
Reproduction and Development: 100–150
eggs deposited and vigorously guarded and
cared for by both male and female.
Macmaster’s Dwarf Cichlid
Apistogramma macmasteri (Cichlidae)
Cichlids
Distribution: Colombia’s Meta and Orinoco
rivers.
Habitat: Slow-moving or still water, usually
with vegetation and caves, rocks, and/or trees
for hiding places.
Appearance: Deep bodied and laterally
compressed. Males are strikingly colored and
ornamented, with long filaments on their
dorsal and anal fins. Males are 2–3 times as
long as the females and up to 10 times as heavy.
Length: 2.5 cm to 11 cm.
Diet: Carnivorous.
Reproduction and Development: Usually
haremic, the male visits females in turn, since
each female is out of phase with the others.
Females set up individual cavities where they
deposit their eggs. Each changes her color to
bright canary yellow with black markings
when breeding. Both males and females are
very aggressive toward others of their gender
California Academy of Sciences
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during the breeding season. Female normally
guards the fry; male defends a wider territory.
Mortality/Longevity: Life span: 3–5 years.
Remarks: At the larval stage, the higher the
water temperature, the higher the proportion
of males develop in the group.
A shy, cautious fish. Often difficult to find in
the Piranha tank as it frequently hides within
the rockwork along the tank’s edges.
Red Oscar
Astronotus ocellatus (Cichlidae)
Cichlids
Distribution: Amazon basin; introduced to
Florida.
Habitat: Shallow, slow-moving water with
mud or sandy bottom; seeks cover in grasses,
sunken branches or logs.
Appearance: Length 33–40 cm. Olive green
to gray or brown mottled body overlaid with
random sized and shaped red blotches; dark
eyespot on peduncle ringed in orange. Males
slightly larger and brighter in coloration than
females; juveniles marked distinctively with
white or orange bars on body and randomly
placed white spots on head.
Diet: Smaller fishes, crustaceans, gastropods,
aquatic insects and their larvae.
Reproduction and Development: Breeding
pair will clear spawning site before eggs are
laid and defend nest as eggs mature; hatching
(typically three to four days after eggs are
deposited) depends on temperature. Young
guarded by adult pair as long as possible.
Remarks: May have 2000 eggs in a clutch.
Oscars generally sluggish by temperament,
but may have short bursts of great speed. A
popular food fish in South America.
Peacock Bass
Cichla ocellaris (Cichlidae)
Cichlids
Distribution: Amazon, Orinoco, and La Plata
basins in South America. Currently established
in southern Florida.
Habitat: Warm freshwater.
Appearance: Elongate body with deeply
notched dorsal fin, large mouth with projecting
lower jaw. Color: olive-green fading ventrally
to yellow-white, with three dark vertical bars