Description
The Orinoco Peacock Bass, a species of peacock bass from the Cichla genus, is a freshwater fish cousin to the temensis, the largest of the peacock bass. As a native to the Orinoco River basin in South America, this fish is large and robust, with the capability of growing over two feet in length and weighing almost 20 pounds in the wild. Its colorful body, which contains a mix of olive, yellow, gold, and green, contains strikingly dark vertical bars edged in golden spots that span its body. The tail of this bass sometimes has a dark black spot surrounded by a golden ring, alluding to its name reference: a peacock. As a carnivorous fish, this peacock bass prefers meatier foods, and can handle both live feeding and frozen or thawed foods.
Given their large and predatory nature, the Orinoco peacock bass is more suitable for advanced aquarists with large tanks and experience handling larger predatory species. As it is quite aggressive, it is not recommended to keep the Orinoco with other smaller fish, as it will likely see the fish as food. This territorial species does best with other large, robust fish, that are able to tolerate this peacock bass's aggressive and territorial dominance.