Demasoni Cichlid

Chindongo demasoni

Also known as: Demasoni, Dwarf mbuna

Water Parameters

• Temperature: 24–28°C
• pH: 7.8–8.6
• Hardness (GH): 179–447 ppm (10–25 dGH)

Values above are general hardness (GH). For carbonate hardness (KH), the buffer that keeps pH stable, see the water parameters guide.

Care Summary

A jewel of the African cichlid world wrapped around a vicious little temper: a dwarf Malawi mbuna barely 8cm long, banded in vivid electric blue and black, with an aggression wildly out of proportion to its size. Keeping it well means embracing a paradox, since demasoni cannot be kept in small numbers, where the dominant fish kills the rest, but thrive in a single specimen or a busy colony of a dozen or more in a large, rock-filled, hard-water tank, where the constant low-level squabbling never settles on one victim. For experienced keepers with the right alkaline water (a natural fit for much of Australia) and a properly aquascaped rift-lake tank, they are an active, brilliant, endlessly watchable fish. For everyone else, a fish that humbles the unprepared. Their alkaline water must also be well buffered: keep the carbonate hardness (KH) high, above 8 dKH (about 140 ppm), to lock the pH up where they need it.

Tankmates

A small mbuna with an outsized temper, and a stocking puzzle. Demasoni are relentlessly aggressive toward their own kind and toward any similarly-striped fish, and the counter-intuitive answer is numbers: keep either a single specimen, or a crowded colony of a dozen or more, so aggression is spread so thin that no individual is hounded to death. A small group of two to six is the one arrangement that reliably fails, ending with a single survivor. They need a hard, alkaline, rocky Malawi setup, which suits hard Australian tap water, and rift-lake tankmates such as yellow labs, peacocks, and a synodontis. Not a community fish.

Compatible with

• Electric Yellow Cichlid
• Peacock Cichlid
• Synodontis Catfish
• Bristlenose Pleco

Avoid keeping with

• Betta
• Neon Tetra
• Soft Water Species
• Cherry Shrimp
• Angelfish
• Discus

Common Problems

• lethal intraspecific aggression in small groups
• incompatibility with soft-water community fish
• needing a single fish or a large colony, never a few
• shell or skin issues in soft, acidic water

Sources: seriouslyfish.com, fishbase.org · Last updated: 2026-06-20