Inhabits moderate to fast-flowing, well-oxygenated, lowland streams and rivers with pH measured to range between 5.4 and 8.0 and temperature 22-31°C/71.6-87.8°F, while conductivity at one habitat was 600 µS.

Substrates may be composed of open mud or sand, or strewn with variably-sized boulders depending on locality, while aquatic plants have not been observed.

It occurs sympatrically with the convict cichlid, Amatitlania nigrofasciata with oth…