Saint John

Often overlooked when seen for sale, as juveniles can appear a little dull, A. thomasi is actually one of the best choices for the newcomer to dwarf cichlids. It is relatively undemanding, peaceful, easily bred and quite beautiful once settled into the aquarium. The species is currently monotypic, although several colour forms are available from time to time. In the future some or all of these may prove to be distinct species....

Described from Assinie-Mafia in south-eastern Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), western Africa but currently accepted to be extensively distributed in coastal river drainages of central western Africa from the Saint John River, central Liberia to the Cross River drainage, in southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon. It also occurs in the Niger and its major tributary the Benue (Bénoué) and has thus been recorded from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Togo.

Following the key of Romand (1992) this species can be told apart from congeners by the following combination of characters: adult size > 40 mm SL; large, dark, transverse bars and some reddish-brown pigmentation on flanks; longitudinal bands more-or-less defined; longitudinal bands composed of small red spots; caudal-fin subquadrangular caudal fin; 11-13 anal-fin rays; 16-17 dorsal-fin rays; 7-8 anal-fin rays located anterior to dorsal-fin origin.