Care
The Electric Blue Hap is found throughout Lake Malawi, although it is not a commonly encountered fish. Here, this piscivorous species is found in the intermediate habitat, where rocky shores give way to open expanses of sand. The aquarium should be at least 5ft long and aquascaped with open expanses of sand in addition to rocky areas and some thickets of Vallisneria. Decor such as ocean rock can be used to build sturdy structures which stretch from the base of the tank to near the surface of the water. These structures should be built with the purpose of creating many crevices for the fish to explore but constructed in such a way so as to keep the rocks stable if the fish start to dig around and underneath them. Although a substrate of coral sand or Aragonite is often recommended to help to keep the water hard and alkaline, these fish feel safer and show better colours over a darker substrate. The Aragonite or coral sand can always be placed into a mesh bag and kept inside the external filter for buffering purposes. The Electric Blue Hap is solitary in nature and can be kept singly in the aquarium, or one male with a harem of several females. Tankmates must be chosen with care as smaller fish will be eaten. Suitable companions could include other large rift lake species such as Dimidiochromis compressiceps, Fossorochromis rostratus, other Haplochromis/Nimbochromis species, Protomelas species, Synodontis catfish etc. Avoid keeping alongside Aulonocara species as the Electric Blue Hap males sometimes take a liking to Aulonocara females and eliminate the male in order to try and breed with the females. Interestingly, male Electric Blue Haps from southern populations tend to display a white blaze on the dorsal surface, which is absent in northern fish.
Feeding
Offer a variety of meaty frozen foods. Smaller specimens will take mosquito larvae, vitamin-enriched brineshrimp, and Mysis shrimp, whilst larger fish will take krill, prawns, lancefish, whitebait etc. A good quality flake and appropriately sized cichlid pellets should also be provided.
Breeding
Maternal mouthbrooder. When ready to spawn, the colouration of the male will intensify. In the wild, he constructs a volcano-shaped structure with a flat top as a spawning site, but in the home aquarium, he will choose and clean a flat upright sloping rock, then display to the female fish until one accepts him. The female will lay eggs on the sloping rock which roll down to be caught by the anal fin of the male as they reach the base of the rock. The male releases milt over them and the female takes up the fertilised eggs in her mouth. This is repeated until the female is spent. The eggs may be incubated for up to 25 days until they hatch into free-swimming fry. The young are large enough to take baby brineshrimp (Artemia nauplii) as soon as they are released. Typical brood size numbers around 50.
