This Little Pike Cichlid Deserves More Attention

What's up, guys? I am back again, and I am here to talk about another one of my favorite species of fish, which is Wallisia notophthalmus, formerly known as Crenicichla notophthalmus. They are dwarf pikes out of South America. They are amazing in every sense of the word, so stay tuned, and we'll do a deep dive. So as I mentioned, we are talking about Wallisia notophthalmus, formerly Crenicichla notophthalmus. These guys are dwarf pipes. They're native to South America, specifically the Amazon River Basin. A little more specifically, the lower Rio Negro River Basin. They are just a fantastic little fish that I've kept quite a few of over the years. So I'm very excited to be talking to you about them because they're near and dear to my heart and I wish more people were aware of them. Unlike many of their relatives in the Wallisia group that prefer fast, turbulent waters, the notophthalmus really prefers a more calm, still water situation. That's what they come from in nature. I think that lends to setting up a tank pretty easily because you don't need to worry about additional equipment like powerheads or filters that can put out a lot of flow. They like it quiet. They love floating plants. They love hardscape. They love anything that they can use for cover. They are cave spawners. So what they're going to do is they're going to find an area underneath a rock or a piece of wood. They're going to dig out a little cave for themselves, and that's pretty much where they're going to stay. Of course, when you feed them, they are front and center every single time. I'd say they are probably one of the quickest fish to eat, and it's pretty entertaining to watch because they'll be in their little hidey hole, and all of a sudden, a bloodworm comes on the scene, and they're right there immediately before any fish can even have a clue what's going on. I love their personality. I love their zest. It's part of the draw for them for me. So parameters are super easy for them. Typical, you know, South America's temperatures and pH. So 6.5 to 7.5 as far as pH goes, 75 to 79 as far as temperatures go. So a little on the warmer side, you definitely need a heater with these guys, but nothing that's hard to obtain and then maintain, which of course, like we always say, the most important part. Stable parameters. So just make sure you're giving them that and I can guarantee they'll do well for you. As far as tank size goes, I would recommend very bare minimum for one pair would be a 40 breeder. They will do fine in a 40 breeder for the majority of their life, but I think ideally you'd like to have them in a 75 just to see more natural behavior. They'll come out a little bit more and cruise around a bit more if they have more space, but a 40 breeder is completely doable. The great thing about these guys that I really love, because it lends to me being able to keep many different species of schooling fish, is they don't really predate on smaller fish. For instance, we do keep ours with Hyphessobrycon nigridorsalis. They're a very small tetra that maxes out around one inch. They're pretty slender bodied. We've never had our dwarf pikes go after them one They don't even look at them. They actually, I think it really helps for as far as dithers go for them to come out a little bit more. I think that a lot of the monsters, when we think of like larger fish and larger pikes, you know, we go, oh, we can't keep anything that they can fit in their mouth. This is not the case with these dwarf pikes. They're maxing out at five and a half inches. I've never had a male go over five and a half. And usually my females are around four and a half. So that's another huge plus to this species is you can keep a miniature monster. And their attitude is amazing. They make great tank mates for other cichlids, for other tetra, for gobies, for Corydoras, you name it. And I've kept them with it. And I've never had one issue, not one. And it's probably been almost a decade that I've been keeping these guys. So they're great fish to have. They're great fish to keep in a community setting. It gives you a lot of room to do, to try different things and do different combinations of fish that you wouldn't typically think you could keep with this type of cichlid. As far as spawning goes, like I had mentioned before, they are cave spawners. I have tried many times to spawn mine and have not been successful yet, which is heartbreaking. However, I do know people that have had success. And another beautiful thing about these fish is they are absolutely amazing parents. Those of you that know cichlids know cichlids overall are pretty good parents, but pikes in general, specifically Crenocichla, excuse me, Wallisia notophthalmus. It's a, it's a newer thing. I'm still getting used to it. They are wonderful parents. They're very good to their fry. They're very protective. They stay with them for an extremely long time compared to a lot of other species. It's not uncommon in the wild to see groups of them together until the fry are over an inch long. It's pretty wild. It's, it's very, it lends to what a wonderful fish they are and what type of environment they come from that they feel the need to protect their fry for that long. Keep your fingers crossed that we have success and can get ours to breed at some point because I think it would be the highlight of my fish keeping career, honestly. When it comes down to it, if I could only keep five fish for the rest of my life, The Crenocichla, excuse me, I'm going to keep doing that. The Wallisia notophthalmus is definitely making that cut. They're such a great fish. They're so easy to care for. They're so hardy. They're so beautiful. There's so much personality. I can't say enough good things about this fish. And I really hope that after this, a few more people will take the time to do a little more research and maybe seek them out and keep them and experience what I've been lucky enough to experience over the years. They're so worth it. I love them so much. I think you guys would love them too. And also do all the things we have affiliate codes running somewhere. I think at the bottom of this video, check out the wet spot, check out Moonlight Aquatics. The wet spot actually frequently has, uh, multiple species of dwarf pikes. So definitely keep an eye out, um, on their site because it's very likely you'll see the notophthalmus pop up at some time. And when you see them buy them, like comment, subscribe, do all those things, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Thank you for watching. And we will see you next time.