Males grow larger than females, and have pointed dorsal and anal fins.

When we want to breed this fish, it is best to buy a group of young fish and allow them to become sexually mature together. You can remove some males if you have too many, as each will require a breeding territory of at least 30 cm diameter. You should keep at least 2 females for each male. The breeding aquarium should have hard and alkaline (pH 8-8,5) water with a temperature of 25-27 °C. They are maternal mouthbrooders. The male will dig a pit in his territory that 5 cm deep and 15-20 cm in diameter, and which will be used as the spawning site. He will try to entice females into this area by display around this pit. When a female is ready to spawn, she will approach the spawning site and lay her eggs there, allowing the male to fertilise them before picking them up in her mouth. The female can lay up to 100 eggs. The female will carry the brood for around 3 weeks before releasing the free swimming fry. She will not eat during this time, and under stress she may spit out the brood prematurely or eat them. The fry will develop slowly if they do not get enough live foods in the early period. They can be easily raise after they reach 2-3 cm in length.