Four Spot Eartheater (Satanoperca acuticeps)

A medium sized earheater found throughout the middle Amazon and its tributaries in Brazil, the Four Spot Eartheater or Sharphead Eartheater is a peaceful and attractive South American Cichlid ideal for most medium to large community aquariums. Like all eartheaters, they are adapted to ingest mouthfuls of fine sand substrate and sift out small food items like insect larvae and crustaceans. In the aquarium, they tend to do best in groups and will coexist with a variety of similarly peaceful cichlids or other fish species, and they are generally safe even with much smaller fish. These fish are typically found in acidic waters in the wild and generally do best in soft, warm water (pH 6.5 or below, temperatures of 80+ ) and appreciate the addition of tannins to their water by way of botanicals like Indian Almond Leaves or similar.