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Metriaclima usisyae (described before as Metriaclima sp."elongatus usisya") is a so-called brown elongatus species which mainly is living in intermediate zones from rocks to sand near Mara Rocks and Mphandi Reef.
The male has a yellow-brownlike body with some lightblue stripes on his head. The females are dark brown.
A few years ago Thimo kept this species in his tank and at that time I enjoyed them very much. So last year (2009) I decided to buy some of these cichlids again to keep them in my tank and also to place some of them in the biggest aquarium in our breeding room. At this time the males in these aquaria are about 10 cm tall, the females between 7 and 8 cm.

It's a very quiet species which is chased away more than it`s chasing others. Meanwhile they've had offspring in both aquaria which are growing up in another small tank. In this moment (August 2009) they are about 4-5 cm tall. During the whole spawning ritual the male defends a territory between the rocks but he isn't doing this really aggressive.

Itīs very important to give them food which is rich of algae like spirulina pellets or flakes. This should not be missing on their menu. Sometimes you can also offer them mysis, artemia, cyclops and shrimp-peas mix.


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