''Amatitlania sajica'', the T-bar cichlid or Sajica cichlid, is a Central American species of

cichlid Cichlids are fish from the family Cichlidae in the order Cichliformes. Cichlids were traditionally classed in a suborder, the Labroidei, along with the wrasses ( Labridae), in the order Perciformes, but molecular studies have contradicted this ...

found in

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

s and

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s on the Pacific slope of

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. The fish is tan colored with seven indistinct bars on the body. The third bar is usually prominent and coupled with a dark lateral stripe running from the gill cover results in a horizontal T-shaped mark, hence the common name of T-bar cichlid.

Environment

The T-bar cichlid inhabits

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

s which have moderate to strong currents in

at up to 2000 feet of elevation, but they are not found in the rapids. They prefer smaller rocks and

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

. They are omnivorous, feeding on algal filaments, aquatic insects, seeds and bottom detritus.

Breeding

Male ''A. sajica'' reach to 12 cm. Mature females that are ready to spawn have a beautiful golden yellow color on their dorsal and

anal fins Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

. These fish exhibits a number of different cichlid spawning behaviors including cave spawning (most common) and open substrate spawning. Which method that is used seem to depend on the mood of the parents not on the availability of suitable spawning caves. They pair off with a dance in which the male swimming parallel to the female. The males can be really aggressive with a female that is not ready to spawn, to the point where he may kill her. The female will find a secluded shelter to lay many

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

s such as a large crevice between rocks or a nest dug in the gravel. The male will then fertilize the eggs and then ferociously protect them from any other fish which come near. Upon hatching after 3 days from the female laying the eggs, the fry will attempt to swim with the egg enclosed around its body. Eventually, the fry will resemble tiny versions of their parents. The female and male occasionally move the fry in their mouth to the nest if they stray too far from it, however the male might eat a few of them. They are very good parents and are often able to raise young to adult size in crowded community aquariums.

References

External links

FishBase Species SummaryAquarium Life Fish Profile
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2060224 Fish of Central America sajica Fish described in 1974

Environment

Breeding

See also

References

External links