Midas Cichlid

1 Midas Cichlid Overview

The Midas Cichlid has a fun appearance with a high forehead, earning it the name God of Longevity fish. In Hong Kong some keep it in the main hall as a deity. Its temper is fiery and it must be kept only with large, aggressive fish.

Subclass: Actinopterygii

Binomial: Cichlasoma citrinellum

Species: Midas Cichlid

Order: Perciformes

Phylum: Chordata

Kingdom: Animalia

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Other names: Star-head, God of Longevity fish

Class: Osteichthyes

Genus: Cichlasoma

Suborder: Labroidei

Chinese name: Midas Cichlid

Family: Cichlidae

2 Appearance

The Midas Cichlid is native to Nicaragua and Costa Rica in Central America, with a distinctive shape. Its temper is violent and it must be kept only with large, aggressive fish.

It reaches 20–30 cm, with a goldfish-like shape. The head is large with a distinct rounded head growth on top. The body is pink; fry are gray-black, adults turn fire-red, and color varies, sometimes orange or yellow. Its high forehead resembles an old sage; it is violent and must be kept only with large, aggressive fish. In Southeast Asia people keep the Midas (fortune), the three-banded tiger (prosperity) and the arowana (luck) together as ‘Fortune, Prosperity and Longevity’.

3 Habitat

Many keepers want to breed at home, not just keep. The Midas Cichlid is not very hard to keep, but breeding requires attention to environment.

Keep at 22–28°C; for breeding use 27–29°C, weakly acidic soft water. Fish mature at 6–8 months; males have larger head growths and bright red bodies, females paler, laying 200–500 eggs on a smooth rock or marble slab.

4 Feeding

Keeping the Midas Cichlid requires attention to temperature, water and management, but feeding is most important. Though not hard to keep, feed scientifically.

Foods include daphnia, tubifex worms and small live fish; after training it takes commercial pellets. For adults use over 30% protein, preferably extruded pellets, fed on a fixed schedule four times daily.