Tretocephalus Cichlid

The Tretocephalus Cichlid, also known as the Five-bar Cichlid, comes from the coastal waters of Lake Tanganyika, Africa. The appearance of the Tretocephalus is similar to that of the Frontosa, but has only 5 stripes.

The Tretocephalus should be maintained in an aquarium of at least 50 gallons with other aggressive cichlids. Provide plenty of rocks with caves, and a sandy bottom comprised of aragonite to maintain the necessary high pH and alkalinity, and provide room to set up territories.

The Tretocephalus is a cave spawner, and breeding is more difficult than most of the cichlids. Provide plenty of caves with sandy bottoms for the female to lay their eggs. Incubation occurs in 3 to 4 days and the female will remain to protect the young. Feed the fry newly hatched brine shrimp and finely crushed flake food.

Their diet should contain both meaty and vegetable based foods such as brine shrimp, bloodworms, Spirulina-based flake and pellet foods.