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Pseudotropheus acei "ngara"
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Pseudotropheus sp. acei "Ngara" or "White Tail Acei" is a Mbuna that's not very spectacular with a rather dark and dull body and a blue head. It's most striking feature can be extracted from the commercial name: the white tail. It's of course an aggressive and territorial fish, but fights are not serious, compared to that of Melanochromis auratus. In nature this fish grows to a maximal length of 10cm, but aquarium specimens can get almost twice as large. Although they live in the lake in an environment with bog- and driftwood, it's best to keep them in a "rocky" aquarium. Unless you add enough Bicarbonate with every water change, wood in a Malawi cichlid aquarium is best avoided because it can affect the hardness and pH when the local tap water isn't buffered very well. |

The dominant male in the front of the mbuna tank
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The natural food of these cichlids mainly consists of algae that grows on drift- and bogwood. As they're normally kept together with other algae-eating Mbuna in our aquarium, it's relatively easy to provide a balanced vegetable diet for these fish. Now and then you can give these cichlids a "snack" like artemia, mysis, krill, hatched shrimp or other ocean food. NEVER feed these fish beef or other mammal meat because it's very unhealthy for them.
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My small 200L/50G mbuna tank with the Pseudotropheus sp. acei "Ngara" and some other species.
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The spawning habits of these cichlids are roughly the same as that of other Mbuna. Only details as spawning spot and the preparation of it, and holding time/aftercare can differ from species to species. |

Above: The dominant male Below: The dull brown female

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Photos by MCH (Frank Panis)
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