Callochromis macrops "Jakobsen's Beach"

About the species

Callochromis macrops, sometimes traded as the big-eyed mouthbrooder or "red macrops," is a sand-sifting cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, where it works the shallow, sediment-laden bottoms of sheltered bays. It belongs to the tribe Ectodini, the lake's flock of open-sand specialists, and feeds the way a Geophagus does — taking mouthfuls of sand and straining buried invertebrates through its gills. The real spectacle is the breeding male: he raises a turret-shaped sand bower, flushes into electric color, and courts passing females with a folded anal fin that mimics an egg, a sleight-of-hand that draws the female's mouth to where his milt is released. Beautiful and abundant in the wild, it is also one of the most quarrelsome sand cichlids a keeper can take on.