Electric blue hap (fryeri)

Care at a glance

The electric blue hap is the best-selling Malawi cichlid outside the mbuna: an adult male is metallic blue from head to tail, and it keeps that blue all year round. In the trade it often still turns up under its old name Haplochromis ahli.

In the lake it hunts young mbuna, and it keeps that attitude: anything under five centimetres is food. It is a fine species for a roomy Malawi tank with peacocks and other haps, in hard, alkaline water with plenty of swimming room and rocks along the sides. Keep one male with several females; two males fight for space, and only the winner keeps his colour.

Good to know

• Territorial
• Preys on shrimp and snails

Best not combined with

• Neon tetraParacheirodon innesi
• GuppyPoecilia reticulata
• BettaBetta splendens

Related species

• Bumblebee catfishMicroglanis iheringi
• Venustus (giraffe cichlid)Nimbochromis venustus
• Emerald cory (brochis)Corydoras splendens
• Socolofi cichlid (powder blue)Chindongo socolofi
• Glowlight rasboraTrigonostigma hengeli
• Maingano cichlidMelanochromis cyaneorhabdos