Hump-head

Cyrtocara moorii, the blue dolphin or hump-head, is a haplochromine cichlid from Lake Malawi and neighbouring Lake Malombe. It ranges over shallow sandy floors and follows behind sand-sifting cichlids such as Fossorochromis rostratus, picking up the invertebrates their digging stirs into the water. Mature males grow a tall nuchal hump that, with the blunt face and metallic blue body, gives the fish its dolphin look. Males reach around 25 cm; females stay smaller, near 20 cm, and barely develop a hump.

For a big Malawi cichlid it is easygoing — a gentle giant that suits a community of other peaceful haplochromines and Synodontis rather than boisterous mbuna. It is a harem breeder, though, and should be kept as one male with several females rather than as a single pair, whose male would pester a lone female relentlessly. A group of four or more works; plan on at least a 250 litre tank.

It wants the hard, alkaline water of the rift lakes: 25–29 °C, pH 7.5–8.8, and a good mineral hardness. Give it a fine sand floor to sift and plenty of open water — the fish is easily startled and can hurt itself dashing about in a tank crowded with rock. Strong filtration keeps up with its size.

The blue colour is misleading: this is a micropredator, not an algae grazer, so feed a protein diet of quality cichlid pellets with frozen bloodworm, brine shrimp and mysis. The female is a mouthbrooder, carrying a clutch of up to about ninety eggs for roughly three weeks.