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All photos by Mike Jacobs . . . Copyright 2005

Scientific name: Aequidens diadema
Size: Up to 5-6”
Origin: Imported from Peru. Usually found from the Iquitos drainage to Brazil.
Habitat: Sometimes found in blackwater areas but not necessary for aquarium keeping.
Water: Neutral or acidic, pH 7.0, 74-83°F.

“It’s a mouth-brooder.” some say . . . others make no mention of mouth-brooding. The spawning of the Aequidens diadema just went off as in “normal” cichlid fashion.

“It’s from the Rio Negro!” some say . . . others say it’s from Venezuela . . . and yet others say it’s from Peru.

“It gets to 8-10 inches long!” some say . . . others say nah it gets maybe 4inches. “Well mine are 5-6 inches long and I think that’s about all they're gonna be!” (Quotes this author)

Full Grown at 5-6 inches!

It seems that all that can be agreed upon is that the water parameters they are from are compatible with most aquarium systems of the aquarium hobby. They seem to prefer a pH of around 7 and while sometimes from the Rio Negro area . . . very soft acidic area . . . peat may have a nice benefit to the fish they evidently don’t demand much softness to their water nor not much of a lower pH.

Well, maybe it’s all of those but maybe no one is really sure. For sure it seems to be a fish that has for the most part a bit misunderstood. Let’s see if I can help a bit. I am a closet cichlid keeper from way back and while I was never really into the ‘tank busters’ but, but aside from dwarf cichlids, I was raised on the 5-6-7-8” cichlids and I always really enjoyed the raising and spawning of these personable fishes of the aquarium world.

Six or seven months ago I was the recipient of maybe 10-12 of a fish named Aequidens diadema and they were wild cichlids from the Iquitos area of Perus. I knew nothing about them . . period! All I knew was that they were wild fish and maybe 10-12 days out of the jungle waters of Peru. They were maybe 2-3” long and a bit attractive but nothing to really catch anyone’s eye except that really wild fish have always intrigued me from the get-go. There is a fascination that is sometimes beyond description for me and these wild fish were no different. I sat in front of the tank (55 gallons) watching them interact for hours and wondering if the wild waters they come from are as exotic as I had always pictured or was it a horrible place that is fraught with the danger of being eaten every second of the day. I watch these true F0 fish and wonder what, if anything, they remember from their wild habitat and I wonder if I can really substitute the safety of the aquarium for the challenge and fear of trying to stay alive in the wild and having to watch for predators every second of life . . . was I going to be a good host of these wonderful beauties from nature?

They were very peaceful for wild cichlids. I always expect cichlids to bring out the knives and swords and clubs but this was a really nice group of fish. I realized, of course, that they were not full grown at all but still their overall demeanor was rather pleasant. There seemed to be no particular ‘boss’ of the tank . . . they all seemed to want to just be part of the group and yet for sure no one was going to particularly back down from anyone . . . they seemed to be accepting the challenge of the aquarium by being a true schooling fish . . . it was like they were saying, “Well, I don’t know the hazards here but they can’t be that bad if I stay in the school.”

I had put the fish in a bottom tank in the fish room and never really gotten a picture at all of the young ‘diadema’. I never put them on the web site and never really pushed them as sale fish at all. I really don’t know why . . . there was no conscious thought to do so but then all of a sudden I look up and they are 6”-7” long and boy were they hungry. I kept dumping the food to them . . . frozen blood worms, 2-3 types of pellets (some floating and some sinkers), live baby brine (even at 5 “) and white worms and sometimes Grindal worms. With that diet they seemed to fill in that 55 gallon tank in no time. They grew and filled in and then suddenly one died. I didn’t think much about it but I was a little miffed because basically fish that have been in my fish room for more than 3-4-5-6 days really don’t die but I didn’t pay much attention and then the next day another one was dead and then that night another one! Well, I pulled up my chair and decided to really take a look! How stupid was I? Of course . . . out came this dark, decorated male just as proud a fish as I have ever seen and with him came this cloud of fry. He was trying to say something to me . . . “Here stupid is what I did . . . look at my babies! Get all of the others out of here before I have to get rid of them all!!” . . . and for sure there were 5-6 of the adults crowding in one corner of a 55 gallon tank and at the other end was one lone diadema at the other end (I presume the female) and in the middle of the tank, taking up 80% of the tank was this proud papa and his fry.

Spawning Colors!!!

I can’t tell you how many there were . . . maybe 200-225 fry . . . but they were as healthy as could be and they were all swimming in this beautiful cloud of wonderfully new Aequidens diadema fry. Papa was flicking and flipping at everyone with this look of majesty all dressed uip in his breeding colors seeming to challenge the world saying . . . “Go ahead . . . Make My Day! I will protect my fry to the end.”

Now you see why the
"BLACK KNIGHT"

I removed all of the other adult fish . . . including the one I presumed to be the female. From there on it was all peaceful in the tank and he proceeded to raise a wonderful school of F1 Aequidens diadema fry.

The fry beginning to take on the coloration and markings of
the adults . . . approx. 6 weeks old and about 1+ inches.