LAKE MALAWI CICHLIDS
Order Perciformes
Family Cichlidae
Subfamily ( Pseudocrenilabrinae )
Genus Aristochromis.
— Aristochromis christyi [Trewavas, 1935] — Christy’s Cichlid. Inhabit along the entire coast of Lake Malawi, differing little from each other depending on the habitat. Utaka group cichlids. 20-25 cm. Solitary fish living along the mainland coast of the lake and in the shallows of most islands. Large predatory cichlids. Its unusual skull profile and mouth reminiscent of a Griffin, and its small, simple teeth distinguish this species from all other Lake Malawi cichlids.
The male is greenish-blue with a red border on the scales, with a bright blue head and blue pigment on the body (especially in the dorsal area). The diagonal stripe in males is not so noticeable, as it looks less contrasting on the colored body. Sometimes anomalies occur when instead of one solid stripe on the side of the fish, two intermittent ones appear.
The dorsal and anal fins are bright orange. Numerous yellow spots – egg dummies – are scattered on the anal fin, and vertical blue strokes are on the dorsal fin. In an excited state, the color of males becomes lighter, a vertical stripe appears on the eyes, and the throat becomes completely black. In adult males, the streamers of the anal and dorsal fins are strongly elongated and almost reach the outer rays of the caudal fin.
Young males, females, and juveniles are silvery-gray with two longitudinal velvety-black stripes – one along the dorsal ridge at the base of the dorsal fin, and the second from the middle of the caudal peduncle through the entire body to the occipital part. Females are yellowish-gray. During spawning periods, males become completely blue with a greenish tinge. At the same time, the stripe completely disappears. Males in such coloration do not hunt, and their main goal is to attract sexually mature females and spawn.
Aquarium from 600 liters. Their main food is fish fry, in small quantities plant food. Usually slow and graceful, but their smooth movements are deceptive, because in essence they are typical predators, quite voracious, and moreover, possessing a huge mouth that allows them to grab fish up to half their length.
The mouth of Aristochromis is capable of opening to fantastic sizes. Keeping it together with small species of Malawi cichlids is quite risky for the latter. Joint maintenance with other species is possible, but the main condition is the size of the neighbors, it should not be less than 50% of the size of Aristochromis (and the body should not be thin and elongated), otherwise the fate of the neighbors will be sealed.
To keep these impressive-sized, predatory cichlids, an aquarium of a sufficiently large capacity is required. A number of males equal to two specimens is undesirable, because the second (subordinate) male may either be killed by the dominant male or will constantly be in an unappealing condition due to the physical impact of the dominant. Three males are always better than two, because the attention of the dominant male is somewhat dispersed, and such situation does not lead to disastrous consequences. They move throughout the entire volume of the aquarium in search of treats.
Aristochromis are timid and, depending on what position they were in at the time of fright, make dashes along the aquarium, abruptly poke into the substrate, and jump out of the water. Therefore, the aquarium must be tightly closed and not decorated with sharp stones. They feed on shrimp meat, frozen fish, and large mosquito larvae.
They reach maturity at two years of age at a length of 12-20 cm. Spawning is in pairs. The female incubates eggs and larvae in her mouth. Spawns females usually hide in caves, where they subsequently release the fry. Care for the fry is continued by the female for about another month. The fry are very voracious and prone to overeating. dH 14-16°; pH 7.2-8.8; T 23-27°C.
Abactochromis labrosus, Exochochromis anagenys. 
