Bolivian Rams are a hardy, peaceful species ideally suited to the community aquarium. The aquarium should be at least 24" long for a pair, larger if housing a group, which will become a little territorial towards one another but this approach has the advantage of producing much more compatible pairs. The tank itself should have a sandy substrate, with shady hiding areas amongst bogwood and dense areas of planting. Bolivian Rams can be kept alongside other small peaceable fish and as with many other dwarf cichlids species, they will only tend to show any real aggression when breeding. Despite sharing a genus with the more familiar Ram (M. ramirezi) these beautiful fish seem to have more in common with the Cupid cichlids in the genus Biotodoma and like them, are often dismissed as rather drab when seen in stock tanks as juveniles. Sometimes labelled as Clown Ruby Cichlids by Asian breeders.