Care
Bolivian Rams are a hardy, peaceful species ideally suited to the community aquarium. The aquarium should be at least 30" long for a pair, larger if housing a group, which will become a little territorial towards one another but this approach has the advantage of producing much more compatible pairs. The tank itself should have a sandy substrate, with shady hiding areas amongst bogwood and dense areas of planting. Bolivian Rams can be kept alongside other small peaceable fish and as with many other dwarf cichlids species, they will only tend to show any real aggression when breeding. Despite sharing a genus with the more familiar Ram (M. ramirezi) these beautiful fish seem to have more in common with the Cupid cichlids in the genus Biotodoma and like them, are often dismissed as rather drab when seen in stock tanks as juveniles. Sometimes labelled as Clown Ruby Cichlids by Asian breeders.
Fishes from the Rio Guapore in Brazil have now been described as M. maculicauda, having been known in the hobby as M. sp. 'zweifleck'. As the name suggests, these can be distinguished by a dark blotch at the base of the tail and the fact that they're not bred commercially.
Feeding
Flake, micropellets, small frozen foods such as daphnia, mosquito larvae and brineshrimp.
Breeding
To minimise any aggression towards other fish, many fishkeepers prefer to breed their Bolivian Rams in a separate aquarium. This can also result in a larger brood size. The water should be soft and acidic-neutral. When ready to spawn, the fish will begin to clean a spawning site, which is usually a flat piece of rock. Up to 200 eggs will be deposited on the flat stone, and after fertilisation, the female will care for the eggs and can be observed fanning them with her fins. The male will guard the perimeter from predators. Once the fry become free-swimming, they are carried into depressions in the substrate and defended by both parents.
