Tilapia snyderae photo credit: Anton Lamboj

 

Tilapia snyderae is small beautiful but feisty African cichlid from Lake Bermin Cameroon. The most important thing you should know about them is that they are critically endangered. T. snyderae is listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species marked CR which means Critically Endangered. Afterwards the next classification is extinct in the wild and lastly extinct. The present threat is due to oil plantations and what’s called slash and burn agriculture causing sedimentation and pollution in the lake. There may be massive decreases in oxygen in the water from deforestation of the surroundings of the crater as water becomes high in organic matter from stratification.

 

This dwarf cichlids are omnivorous so feeding them is not a problem at all. They will eagerly accept all prepared aquarium foods. Due to their aggressive or feisty behavior they are best managed in small groups of six to eight fish. While pairs can be kept together there is data to suggest males may harm females. Another strategy to employ is using dither fish in addition to keeping a small group.

 

Relative to breeding these fish, they are undemanding and spawn very much like common substratum spawning cichlids. Eggs are deposited on a hard surface, the male will fertilize the eggs and both parents guard the eggs and free swimming fry. Spawns are recorded to average between 20 to 100 fry depending on the size of the female. An interesting thing to note is their size, with males reaching 2 inches and females remaining smaller at 1.5 inches. These West African cichlids are sexually dimorphic with the female displaying the most red on their chest and stomach areas. According to Sam Borstein’s cichlid site, a great site by the way, there are several color varieties of T. synderae which are green, pale and red.

 

There is a great effort underway to make sure these fish remain in the hobby. The ACA or American Cichlid Association has them on their CARES List which is C.A.R.E.S Conservation List program. This species may have seen a genus change and is also referred to as Coptodon snyderae and you can read more about it over at the Cichlid Companion website.