Blood-Red Jewel Cichlid

About

The species is real, small and Congolese; the fish in the shop tank wearing its name usually is not. Hemichromis lifalili was described by Loiselle in 1979, and FishBase notes that the binomial 'is derived from one of the fish's vernacular names near Lake Tumba, Democratic Republic of Congo; the type locality'. It lives through the Congo basin — Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and the DRC, but not the Shaba (Katanga) region or the Kasai — 'primarily found in forested habitats, but also in more savannah-like areas with gallery forests', and absent from rapids and swamps. Seriously Fish gives a maximum standard length of 10 cm and FishBase 8.2 cm, so it is a distinctly smaller animal than H. guttatus at 12 cm SL. Now the part that matters when you shop. Aquarium Glaser, a German wholesaler that moves these fish by the thousand, writes: 'This is somewhat unfortunate in that the species Rubricatochromis lifalili really does exist. It lives in the Congo. In the trade the "real" R. lifalili hardly ever appears - at least we have not seen it yet. What you can buy as Rubricatochromis (or Hemichromis) lifalili are either selection breedings of R. guttatus or breeding forms which have their origin in crossing different species.' In the hobby the name is a colour grade rather than an identification: the blue spangles are iridophores, their density varies inside a single wild population, it 'is therefore not a species characteristic, but can be selected by appropriate breeding', and 'If these fish have a particularly large number of iriodophores, they are called Lifalili in the hobby.' Maidenhead Aquatics reports the same thing independently from the retail end, on its jewel cichlid page: 'A form with dark males and bright scarlet females has been traded as lifallili for years, but bears little resemblance to the genuine wild fish, which is much more peaceful.' Two things follow. First, identification. Seriously Fish gives the two usable marks: against H. bimaculatus, 'H. lifalili have only two black spots on the flanks whereas H. bimaculatus has three, having an extra spot on the caudal peduncle'; against the red form of H. guttatus, 'In lifalli the marking is round and is situated above the lateral line. In guttatus the marking is oval in shape and some of it extends below the lateral line.' Second, the numbers on this page. Where a hobby source gives 12-13 cm for a 'lifalili' — Fishipedia's data-model sheet says 12 cm, AquariumDomain says 5 inches — it is very probably describing a guttatus wearing the name, so this entry gates on Seriously Fish's 10 cm for the described species and says why rather than quietly averaging. One 12 cm figure is not in that class and is worth separating out: AquaInfo, writing about this species specifically, gives 'an average total length of about 10 centimeters' with dominant males 'up to 12 centimeters' - and 10 cm standard length is about 12 cm once the tail is counted, so that is Seriously Fish's fish measured the other way, not a bigger one. On paper it is the mildest of the three jewels in this catalogue: Seriously Fish calls it 'a territorial species that becomes incredibly aggressive when spawning, but is fairly placid otherwise', and Maidenhead says the genuine wild fish is much more peaceful than the trade form. 'Fairly placid otherwise' still ends the day the eggs appear — Seriously Fish's spawning advice is 'If there are any other fish in the aquarium, remove them now or they will most likely be murdered', and 'At this point the pair will even attack your hand!' Conservation is not a worry here. FishBase records IUCN Least Concern, assessed 16 February 2009, and GBIF's Red List dataset returns the same category for the same IUCN taxon, 182413. iucnredlist.org refuses automated requests, so that category is reported from those two secondary readings rather than from the Red List page itself. On the genus: Lamboj and Koblmüller's 2022 revision in Hydrobiologia moved the red jewels out of Hemichromis into Rubricatochromis, so FishBase now heads this species Rubricatochromis lifalili while GBIF's backbone still accepts Hemichromis lifalili. We keep the older combination in the header to match our other two jewel entries, and both names are searchable. The paper itself is paywalled and was not read; its content is reported here from Aquarium Glaser and AquaInfo and from FishBase's adoption of the names.

Care

Buy five or six young fish and let a pair form. Seriously Fish is explicit that 'It's difficult to pair up adult H. lifalili', and that simply buying a couple 'will usually result in the weaker fish being killed'. Then keep the pair alone. Published minimums for that pair run from Seriously Fish's 75 cm base and 70 L, through aqua-fish.net's 80 L and AquariumDomain's 30 gallons, to AquaInfo's 100 cm (100-120 L) and Fishipedia's 200 L; we gate at 80 cm and 100 L, which is AquaInfo's own breeding-tank floor - 'A breeding tank of at least 80 centimeters is sufficient for a pair' - and a little under its general guideline. Seriously Fish's own breeding note is that a 48-inch tank 'is fine', and AquaInfo asks for 140 cm the moment you add tankmates, so 120 cm is the better plan for anything beyond a lone pair. One correction to that source while you read it: its aquarium line prints '30" x 12" x 12" (75cm x 12cm x 12cm) – 70 litres', but 30 x 12 x 12 inches is 76 x 30 x 30 cm — the two '12cm' figures are a slip, and 70 L is the volume that footprint really holds. Sand, clay flower pots, rockwork caves, driftwood, and plants tied to the hardscape rather than rooted, because the fish digs. Seriously Fish is unusually firm on one point: 'It's essential that the water is well-oxygenated' — these are still and slow-moving creeks that are nonetheless oxygen-rich, so give it surface movement even though the current should stay gentle. 23-26 °C, pH 6.5-7.2, soft to medium water. It spawns on a cleaned flat rock, the side of a flowerpot or even the glass; up to 400 eggs, hatching in about 48 hours, free-swimming 24-72 hours later, with both parents working and the fry moved between pits the pair digs. Brood care runs about a month, after which the fry should come out before the pair spawns again.

Diet

Primarily carnivorous but takes almost anything. Live and frozen bloodworm, blackworm, brine shrimp and ghost shrimp, plus flake or cichlid pellet — and a green portion as spirulina flake or blanched spinach, which in the wild comes from the guts of the invertebrates it eats.

Telling males from females

What works for this species, most reliable first.

• Extended finsStrong · from about 8 months, and later in a suppressed male

  On many cichlids and killifish the male's dorsal and anal fins draw out into trailing points as he matures, while the female's stay rounded.

• VentingA hint only · only on a mature fish, easiest when she is in breeding condition

  The method breeders use when the answer has to be right. Hold the fish upside down in a wet hand or soft net and look at the two openings ahead of the anal fin. The forward one is the anus; the one behind it is what you are reading.

• Adult sizeA hint only · only across animals of the same age

  In many cichlids, catfish and loaches one sex simply grows larger — usually the male, though there are well-known reversals.

Also in these lists

Similar species

Same category and the closest water parameters — if this species isn't quite it, start here.

Sold in Lithuania

These Lithuanian shops listed this species in their public catalogue (checked August 8, 2026). Stock moves — ask before you travel.

These links are unpaid: we get nothing for them and ask for nothing.

Frequently asked questions

What tank size does a Blood-Red Jewel Cichlid need?

A Blood-Red Jewel Cichlid needs an aquarium of at least 100 litres (26.4 US gallons) with a footprint at least 80 cm (31.5 in) long — for this species, swimming length matters as much as raw volume.

What water parameters does a Blood-Red Jewel Cichlid need?

Blood-Red Jewel Cichlid does best at 22–28 °C (71.6–82.4 °F), pH 6–7.8 and a general hardness of 2–15 °dGH.

Is the Blood-Red Jewel Cichlid suitable for beginners?

Blood-Red Jewel Cichlid sits in the middle of the difficulty scale — manageable for a careful beginner who has done the reading, but it has specific needs worth researching first.

Sources

• Seriously Fish — Hemichromis lifalili (Blood-Red Jewel Cichlid)
• FishBase — Rubricatochromis lifalili (Loiselle, 1979), filed as Hemichromis lifalili
• Aquarium Glaser — Rubricatochromis "lifalili" (formerly: Hemichromis), 26 April 2023
• AquaInfo — Rubricatochromis lifalili (Blood-red Jewel Cichlid)
• Fishkeeper.co.uk (Maidenhead Aquatics) — Jewel Cichlid, Rubricatochromis guttatus
• AquariumDomain — Red Forest Jewel (Hemichromis lifalili) species profile
• aqua-fish.net — Lifalili Cichlid (Hemichromis lifalili) care guide
• GBIF — Hemichromis lifalili Loiselle, 1979: backbone record and Red List category
• Fishipedia — Rubricatochromis lifalili