20" inches of power - Parachromis dovii

Probably the most powerful cichlid is the majestic dovii or wolf cichlid - Parachromis dovii. These beasts are found in Nicaragua and are an aquarium favourite due to their size, level of interaction and intelligence. They are also surprisingly gentle with each other when a pair forms. Males can be huge compared to females and seeing an adult male nuzzle a female and young fry is particularly satisfying.

In the wild these fish often have a symbiotic relationship with Hyphsophrys nicaraguensis where the male nic helps guard the dovii fry and in turn gets protection. Willem Heijns has shot some amazing footage of this phenomena.

One has to bear in mibd these are huge and exremely powerful cichlids. Males can easily top 20 inches and females can grow to more than a foot. They therefore require large living quaters - 200 gallons being a good starting point. A breeding pair will liquidise tankmates but single males or females can be mixed with caution.

Lake Apoyo the enigmatic Nicaraguan crater lake.

Lake Apoyo is a tiny crater lake in Nicaragua. Lying just a few kilometers south east of lake Apoyeque it has surface dimensions of two by three kilometers. The lake has no inflow or outflow and is entirely self filling. The lake is also fairly young.

Amazingly the lake holds 7 species of cichlid including Hyphsophrys nicaraguensis, Hyphosphrys neetroplus, Parachromis dovii and a beautiful strain of Amatilania nigrofasciatus as below and others including the pictured Amphilophus sp - the lake's endemic midas cichlid as pictured below.

The lake is young - an estimate is less than 20,000 years and has showed rapid speciation in the fish such that some have become unique species like A. xiloaensis which is genetically separate from the midas cichlids of lake Apoyeque and other lakes and rivers of Nicaragua.

So how did the fish get there? This is a really mystery. As we know with no out fall or in flow the lake is unconnected so could they have arrived when lake Apoyewue flooded? Another theory is young were dropped by birds and colonised or they were transplanted by humans - a possibility but unlikely as the lake is somewhat inaccesible and very craggy. So will this mystery be solved?