Powder blue cichlid

The powder blue cichlid, formerly Pseudotropheus socolofi, is a popular mbuna from the eastern, Mozambique shore of Lake Malawi. Both sexes are a clean powder-blue, males showing dark-edged fins and egg-spots on the anal fin, which makes for an unusually uniform and attractive display. Reaching around 11 cm, it is one of the more even-tempered mbuna, semi-aggressive rather than outright combative, though males still defend territories. Keep it in a group of one male with several females amid plentiful rockwork and open swimming space. It needs the hard, alkaline, mineral-rich water of the Rift lakes with strong filtration and stable parameters. As a grazer of algae and aufwuchs, it should be fed a vegetable-rich diet of spirulina and algae foods, with only modest protein to prevent Malawi bloat. A good introductory mbuna for a mixed Malawi community.