Anomalochromis thomasi

The picture is of one of the 4 Anomalochromis thomasi (fish) that lives in my 60 gallon planted aquarium. These little guys (fish) are full of personality and are very amusing to watch. They are one of my favorite little fish. The one in the picture is the more bold of the four. He or she will stick around to check things out (like the scary camera phone!) a bit longer than the other 3 fish, who high tail it into the thick plant growth the minute they are scared.

Sometimes called butterfly cichilds (fish). They are very pretty with an irredesent blue and red coloring to them, with darker spots or vertical stripes on their sides. They aren't to aggressive, they will occasionaly give chase to other fish but rarely do more than that. These fish tend to stay to the lower portions of the aquarium and are always busy checking something out. They seem to be very observant of their surroundings. Often while I am watching them, they are also watching me. They go nuts over shrimp pellets.

From what I have read these fish do best in lower pH water, but mine do just fine at a pH of 7.6-7.8. They probably just won't breed. Temperatures in my tank (aquarium) flucuate from 78*f-81*F.

From wikipedia:

Anomalochromis thomasi is a species of fish in the family Cichlidae, the only species in the genus Anomalochromis. It is a small cichlid growing to a length of 6-8 cm. The natural habitat of A. thomasi is Sierra Leone and Liberia, mainly in smaller streams. The fish are typically found in slightly acidic, oxygen rich water with other west African cichlid genera such as Hemichromis and Pelvicachromis.

links about A. thomais:
http://www.thekrib.com/Apisto/A-thomasi.html
http://www.thecichlidgallery.com/a.thomasi.htm
http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Anomalochromis_thomasi.html