(This article was originally published in Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine, Jan 1982; pp. 30-35, 59-63. It is here reproduced with the permission of author Dr. Paul V. Loiselle). In 1903, the German aquarist Schoeller reported upon his experiences with a small cichlid from Egypt. The fish he described as Chromis multicolor is today known as Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor, and his extremely detailed article, which could well serve as a model for contemporary writers on aquaristic subjects, represents the first published account of a haplochromine as an aquarium fish. Schoeller's fish, under the vernacular name of Egyptian Mouthbrooder, has been available to aquarists ever since. Indeed, until relatively recently, it was the only representative of this largest and most diverse of cichlid lineages available in the hobby. Time has changed this state of affairs. Nevertheless, it is fitting that, at a time when the aquarist is literally inundated with larger, more spectacular haplochromines from the Great Lakes of Africa, due consideration be given to their precursors, the smaller but equally desirable species of the genus Pseudocrenilabrus. Until very recently, the species of this genus were placed in the genera Haplochromis or Hemihaplochromis. While contemporary ichthyologists accept the conclusion of Wickler (1963) that these cichlids are generically distinct from Haplochromis, they are barred by the provisions of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ...

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