What Is a Hap Cichlid?

The term "cichlid" refers to fish in the order Cichlidae, the largest family of vertebrates in the world. There are more than 1,300 known species of cichlid. The hap cichlid is found in Lake Malawi, in the African nation of Malawi. They are also known as Malawi Blue Dolphins. These cichlids are prized pets, due to their vibrant colors and low-maintenance lifestyle.

  1. Appearance

    • Adult hap cichlid males are a brilliant blue color. As juveniles their bodies are silver-blue, with dark stripes below their gill openings. These stripes fade as the male matures and the fish's body turns bright blue. Male hap cichlids also have a small bump, known as a nuchal hump, on their heads. Females are generally a dull silver, but may turn a faded blue when mature. Hap cichlids grow to a maximum length of approximately 10 inches.

    Habitat

    • Since Lake Malawi, the native habitat of hap cichlids, is a freshwater ecosystem, the cichlids must be kept in a freshwater tank. This tank should have large open areas with sandy substrate at the bottom, to replicate the hap cichlid's natural surroundings. Include rocks to serve as hiding places, so your hap cichlid can take a break from other fish. An optimal tank size is 125 gallons, which will give your cichlid room to explore.

    Feeding

    • In the wild, hap cichlids swim behind other fish and eat the small animals dislodged from the sandy substrate. Even though hap cichlids are omnivores, they will ignore plants if you attempt to offer these during feeding time. Instead, feed them a frozen shrimp mix. Store-bought cichlid pellets and cichlid flakes are also a good choice. Hap cichlids respond especially well to nutritional supplements made from spirulina, a blue-green algae. Newborn cichlid fry should be fed the shrimp mix.

    Breeding

    • Hap cichlids take about three years to sexually mature. When other fish species are present in the tank, hap cichlids will be shy about breeding. When the female cichlid is ready to breed, she will lay her eggs in a nest or against a flat stone. The male fertilizes them, and then the female eats them. The eggs should hatch in about three weeks. Young females typically hatch 15 to 25 offspring, and older females can hatch up to 80.