Venustus (giraffe cichlid)

Care at a glance

The venustus is one of the largest Malawi cichlids you will see in the shop: yellow with a brown giraffe pattern as a juvenile, blue-headed with a yellow back as an adult male. It often goes home as a ten-centimetre fish and grows to a quarter of a metre in a few years.

In the lake it is a predator that lies in wait, half-buried in the sand, to ambush curious small fish, so anything that fits in its mouth is food. Give it a long tank with open sand, a few rock formations and tankmates of similar size such as other large haps. It eats greedily and produces a lot of waste; generous filtration and weekly water changes are essential.

Good to know

• Outgrows most home tanks
• Territorial
• Preys on shrimp and snails

Best not combined with

• Neon tetraParacheirodon innesi
• GuppyPoecilia reticulata
• BettaBetta splendens

Related species

• Electric blue hap (fryeri)Sciaenochromis fryeri
• Socolofi cichlid (powder blue)Chindongo socolofi
• Bumblebee catfishMicroglanis iheringi
• Maingano cichlidMelanochromis cyaneorhabdos
• Emerald cory (brochis)Corydoras splendens
• Tropheus (duboisi, moorii)Tropheus sp.