Red Jewel Cichlid – Hemichromis Bimaculatus

Common name: Red Jewel Cichlid, Jewel Cichlid, Jewelfish, Two-Spotted Jewelfish, African Jewelfish, Blue Jewel, Red Jewel.

Scientific name: Hemichromis Bimaculatus

Average Adult Fish Size: 5 inches / 13 CM

Place of Origin: Zaire, Africa river region

Typical Tank setup: The Jewel Cichlid is known to dig for food in sandy and muddy substrate. It will destroy or damage most plants, so don’t hope to retain any plants for show. The tank should have caves and other hiding areas.

Recommended Minimum Aquarium Capacity: Juveniles can easily be kept in aquariums as small as a 20 gallon /80 litre, but full grown adults need an aquarium of 80 gallon / 350 litre.

Compatibility: They are very few fish that can be placed with Red Jewel due to there agression. Generally the Red Jewls will accept peacock cichlids, same sized mbunas, or haplochromis African cichlids. They are very aggressive towards New World Cichlids such as a Green Terror, Smaller Dwarf Cichlids, Jack Dempseys, etc.

Temperature: 70 – 78 Deg F  /  21 – 25 Deg C

Water chemistry: pH 6.5 – 7.5

Feeding: Red Jewels are carnivorous and prefer a meaty diet. A good quality pellet food should be used as the staple. Red Jewels also prefer bloodworms or brine shrimp.

Sexing: This is Difficult to determine, but males may become even more stunning in colour when breeding.

Breeding: Breeding of Red Jewels is quite easy once they have established a pairing. Pairing the jewels is a little of a challenge. As with most other fish group 5-6 together as juveniles and wait for the natural pairing to occur. When it occurs remove all other fish. Red Jewels will lay their eggs on cleaned rocks or often the glass. Once fry hatch leave the parents with the fry only. Jewels are probably the best parental fish of any cichlids but will become very aggressive to other fish.

Additional Information: The Jewel Cichlid originated from the rivers in Africa in the Zaire region.  It is one of the most aggressive tropical fish and is not suited for a community tank.  It is also known as the Jewelfish and the Two Spotted Jewel Fish.  The scientific name Hemichromis bimaculatus refers to the two large spots along its body