Cockatoo Dwarf
Cockatoo Dwarf
Currently unavailable
We do not take backorders on live fish, invertebrates or plants. Livestock arrives on the shipping schedule our suppliers and the weather allow, so we will not promise a date we cannot keep.
What is in the tanks changes from week to week. Ask us and we will tell you what is in and what is coming, or check back shortly. Visit us or get in touch.
Free local pickup at our Lethbridge store. Livestock guarantee
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The cockatoo dwarf cichlid (Apistogramma cacatuoides) comes from small, shaded blackwater streams in the Amazon basin. Males are the show: a spiky, raised dorsal fin that gives the species its common name, orange and red in the tail, and a habit of displaying at anything that moves. Females are smaller and plainer until they breed, at which point they turn bright yellow and become surprisingly bold about defending a cave.
Aquarium care
- Males reach about 8 cm; females stay noticeably smaller.
- Keep one male with two or three females rather than a single pair.
- Needs caves — coconut shells, small pots or rock overhangs — one per female.
- Prefers soft to moderately hard, warm water with gentle flow and some leaf litter or shade.
- A bottom dweller that spends its time working the substrate.
- Takes small frozen foods readily; some individuals are slow to accept dry food.
Suits a quiet planted tank with small tetras, pencilfish and rasboras above them. Avoid other bottom-dwelling cichlids in a small tank, and avoid boisterous fish that will keep the females hiding. A breeding female will chase tankmates away from her cave, which is normal.
Stock rotates with each shipment, and livestock is available for local pickup at our Lethbridge store. Browse the dwarf cichlid collection.
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