ACEI Cichlid

The Acei cichlid or the PseudotropheusAcei is from the Northwestern coast of Lake Malawi from the Bandawe Point to Ngara in Zambia, Africa. These fish are beautiful to look at with their striking yellow fins and slender blue body.

It is not easy to differentiate between the males and females in these fish. The males have egg spots on the back edge of their anal fins, while the females do not. This can be one of the ways to tell the gender apart.

Acei will do best when housed in an aquarium of 280 liters or more, and are provided with a fine sand substrate, multiple rocky formations or along with moderate water flow and small amounts of vegetation, that will simulate their natural environment.

They prefer open space and should be provided with enough room to swim around freely. They should be fine with live plants, but have been known to eat them sometimes in their diet. This type of fish are normally fine with tank mates that do not share their appearance or species, but they should be similar in size and disposition.

Acei Cichlid are herbivores who in their native habitat feed primarily on algae covered rocks and submerged wood. They are also known to graze on multiple types of aquatic vegetation, so they are not as well suited as most African Cichlids in a planted tank. However, they should be fine with tougher plants like Java Ferns or many Anubias plant species.

It is best to provide Acei Cichlids with a quality herbivore flake or pellet food, along with supplemental algae wafers and of course naturally occurring algae growth on the rock and wood aquarium decor.

If you tank size is less than about 380 liters, be careful to have only 1 dominant male in the tank for each 3 or 4 females.  It is a good idea to start with a fairly large group of young acei cichlids and raise them to adulthood.  This lets them form a harem of their nature so that any fish which are getting beaten can be removed.