Malawi eyebiter

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Compressiceps

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Family:	Cichlidae
Genus:	Dimidiochromis
Species:	D. compressiceps

Binomial name

Dimidiochromis compressiceps
(Boulenger, 1908)

(Dimidiochromis compressiceps) is a species of fish in the Cichlidae family. It is found in Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. It is endemic to Lake Malawi, east Africa. An ambush predator in the wild, they are piscivorous in nature. The males of this species exhibit a dazzling metallic blue hue and can attain lengths of up to 12 inches whilst the females are a drab silver and only grow to approximately 2/3 of the males length.

In the aquarium they usually prefer to swim out in the open unlike the more common "Mbuna"(rock dwellers). They can become quite aggressive during spawning, vigorously defending their spawning site from all intruders. A single male should be kept in a harem style environment with multiple females as this diverts his aggression towards any particular female.

In aquarium they should be housed in at least 100 gallon tank as they tend to grow to a larger size. Also, any fish that is smaller in size and of lesser aggression should be avoided as they may be eaten. This species can also exhibit some aggressive behavior towards other similarly colored species. As with all cichlids of lake Malawi they prefer hard, alkaline water.