May also be seen on sale as Demon Eartheater or Devilfish. A number of species are traded as Jurupari, including the freckle-faced S. leucosticta.
Feeding
Omnivorous. Requires small aquarium foods compared to its adult size. Try to keep it varied with good quality carnivore and herbivore flakes, small sinking pellets, and a mixture of frozen foods such as white mosquito larvae, bloodworm, black mosquito larvae, vitamin-enriched brineshrimp, and daphnia.
Breeding
Ovophilous maternal mouthbrooder. The male fish will stake out a territory centred around a potential spawning site, usually a flat piece of rock or wood. He will then display to the female by holding his fins erect and extending his mouth, whilst shaking in a showy manner. If the female is receptive and allowed to remain in the male’s territory, she will clean the spawning site in typical cichlid fashion. When ready to spawn, the female will swim over the spawning site in a series of “Ëœdry runs”™, after which she will begin depositing eggs in small batches with the male following behind and fertilising them. The female immediately takes the fertilised eggs up into her oral cavity, and the process is repeated many times, until up to 400 eggs have been fertilised and taken into the female’s mouth for incubation. Once the female has gathered up all the eggs, the pair disperse, with the female providing broodcare on her own. Many aquarists choose to remove the male from the tank at this point to prevent stress or injury to the holding female. Incubation takes around 14 days (temperature dependent), and upon release, the free-swimming young can be offered baby brineshrimp (Artemia nauplii) and crushed flake foods. The female demonstrates excellent broodcare and will offer the fry shelter in her mouth for a further 3 weeks or so, after which time the youngsters will have become too large to all fit in her mouth at once.