Three Spot Eartheater (Satanoperca daemon)

A stunning large growing and peaceful cichlid found throughout many of the blackwater tributaries of the Rio Orinoco and Rio Negro in Colombia and Brazil, the Three Spot or Demon Eartheater is among the most striking fish in its family. 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 exclusively 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.