On the care of Andinoacara Pulcher (the blue acara, most often seen as the electric blue acara)
Many of you have seen these handsome men at the pet store, sometimes with a price label as high as 20 for the electric blue variant and maybe 5 for the wild type
I have three of my own, two electric blues and one wild type, and after finding nothing except generic “cichlid care” information i went out and dug up gut content analysis studies, wild parameters, and an accurate adult TL size.
SIZE AND HOUSING REQUIREMENTS
Maximum TL length i have seen recorded was 5.5 inches. I have seen figures of 8 inches thrown around on a couple sites, I believe these may have been green terror/blue acara hybrids or incorrectly recorded information for the green terror. The electric blues should stay slightly (maybe an inch) smaller than the wild type, although I’ll go on as to why that isn’t a good thing later.
A pair should be find in either a 40b or 55 gallon. A 75 is ideal if youd like to put in other fish, as these are heavy bodied and somewhat territorial, even outside of spawning. When they pair off, they will harass other blue acara so be prepared to separate if you have multiples.
These fish like a decent amount of flow. A canister filter overturning the water volume of the tank 3 or 4 times per hour should suffice. I have seen these fish occur in very high flow areas, but they were found in deeper and therefore calmer regions of the river.
Give them a sand substrate! They are sand sifters in the wild, and up to 30% of their diet consists of food churned up from the substrate. They also do not naturally occur in areas with submerged growth (as far as I’ve seen), but they don’t seem to care that much about them and prefer to rearrange leaf litter over live plants.
pH can range from 6.5 to 7.8 (the highest ph ive seen recorded in areas where they occur). The 7.8 came from an area with high pollution, however. Because of that, I’d recommend keeping them at as close to neutral as possible, with a slight excursion into alkaline or acid probably being totally fine. They do seem to be very highly adaptable fish.
Temperature wise, I had quite a bit more difficulty with this than other parameters. As best as I can tell, using temperatures provided by planetcatfish for sympatric species in the immediate area, same system and area of the body of water, they prefer 69-77 degree water, preferably on the cooler side. 74/73 should be excellent, and they experience a large annual fluctuation in temperature. This is a bit lower than the standard tropical tank, but it means they are compatible with some central american cichlids (temperature wise) as well as corys such as c. aeneus (not usually listed at these temperatures, but they were found in the same region of one of the type localities), c. melanotaenia, c. panda, and im sure a multitude of others that I am not familiar with.
DIET
The gut content analysis studies I found showed a very large variation of diet throughout the year. They primarily consisted of vegetables, whole fish, and “detritus” which in this case means mulm and submerged wood shed eaten while sand sifting.
To average out over the year, the diet would be about 40% vegetable matter, 30% other fish, and 20% detritus, and 10% invertebrates. In captivity I feel that Repashy Supergreen, Bottom Scratcher, Morning Wood, and a home bred (clean and disease free!!!) supply of feeder guppies should more than suffice. I have seen them eat feces from the mystery snail in their tank, as well as sift through sand on the bottom. I offer boiled vegetables, but they are far from a favorite and probably have to be introduced to the fish from a young age. These fish adore live food, sometimes to the extent of refusing other food if they know live is available (I’ve found if I give them worms, they wont touch any food that goes in the tank after and will stay at the surface waiting for more)
If such food is not available, I would feed a staple of New Life Spectrum algae wafers and pellets, as well as sera “pleco wafers” on an occasion. Fiber is important to these fish! Make sure they get their veggies.
A “NATURAL” TANK
To mimic natural habitat as much as possible, use a slow decaying leaf litter such as magnolia or thicker seed pods overtop a sand substrate. A few flat or rounded stones can be added, as well as lots and lots of driftwood to create caves. Boil all botanicals and wood beforehand to reduce tannin leaching, you dont want a peat bog.
There is no submerged plant growth throughout most of the habitats I found video for, however a few photos show juveniles hiding in what may be vallisneria or some other sort of grass. I didn’t choose to talk about “biotope” tanks here as the wide range of the fish makes that difficult, as would be growing riparium plants native to south america. Keep the lighting somewhat dim, you want a “filtered through the trees” look to the light and the bright blue/green markings on the wild types more than make them stand out.
That goes over basic care for the species. You can stop reading here if you wish, but underneath I have some information on the “Electric Blue” coloration and why I won’t be buying them in the future, and things to consider if you do
Thank you for reading, and please share with other people so that those who do have them can possibly improve their care and maybe spark their interest in what was once a very popular fish in the early days of the hobby
