Zebra Obliquidens Cichlid Haplochromis obliquidens

Zebra Obliquidens Cichlid, also called the Thick Skin Haplochromis, is native to Africa's Lake Victoria. They grow to 9cm long. Colours vary according to location. Breeding males are red, yellow and black, as are the Victoria Nyerere's Cichlids. Like many cichlids, the mothers brood the eggs and new young in their mouths to protect them.

Several other cichlids native to Lake Victoria and neighbouring lakes bear the name "Zebra", including Victoria Zebra Cichlid and one, Astatotilapia latifasciata, previously Haplochromis latifasciatus, endemic to Uganda's Lake Kyoga system, is erroneously referred to as "Zebra obliquidens" in the aquarium trade.

Lake Victoria, Africa's the largest lake by surface area but relatively shallow, has been an ecological disaster through human mismanagement and some 200 of the 500 known species are already extinct. Key human activities having a disastrous, detrimental impact are: introduction of Nile Perch, huge and predatory invasive fish; not only have the perch directly predated most of the species lost, but humans fishing perch for consumption smoke the oily flesh to conserve it, resulting in mass deforestation along the banks. Morever, fertiliser and pollution run off from human settlement into the shallow lake, combined with new light penetration into the shallow water, has caused high algal growth and resulted in the water becoming murky. This in turn has caused some remaining fish in those areas to interbreed since they can no longer tell each other part, leading to further loss of unique diversity of species. The Zebra Obliquidens is extremely vulnerable.