Brichardi - The Fairy Cichlid

The Brichardi is one of the more beautiful and elegant cichlids available to fresh water fish enthusiasts. Brichardi's beauty doesn't come from amazing colors like other cichlids but rather from its long filaments and its fairy-like movement. The Brichardi is a beautiful fish whose base color is tan, with small yellow scales near the start of the tail. The tail, dorsal and anal fins are tan and are fringed with a blue and white edge extending along the elongated tips of the tail fin, a black bar runs from the eye back to the gill cover. A bright gold spot is located just above the bar. This cichlid was named after Pierre Brichard, Pierre was one of the trailblazers who paved the way for exporting these fabulous fishes from Lake Tanganyikan.


The Brichardi was one of the very first cichlids I owned and one of my personal favorites. The Brichardi is one of the easiest cichlids to breed as they reach breeding maturity much earlier than others and they are one of a few fish species in Africa that utilize a collective nursery. A collective nursery means that adults and sub-adults participate in rearing the fry. They care for not just their own fry but also other fry that are present.

When it comes to breeding, you must ensure that the aquarium environment stays as close to their natural habitat as possible. Decorate your aquarium with sand, stones, conches and caves. They are also monogamous, which means that they pair off for life. They are cave spawners that lay about 100 fry per spawn. The fry are small and grow slowly but will do well if fed baby brine shrimp and finely crushed fish flakes.