This species is less tolerant to cold waters than most other tropical cichlids. Swingle (1966) reported a lower
lethal temperature, under experimental conditions, of 16°C for fingerlings 80 mm in length. Guest et al. (1979) reported a lower lethal
temperature of 15.6°C and a higher lethal temperature of 37.9°C for fingerlings between 85 and 140 mm TL. Some fish survived to
13.5°C, when salinity was raised to 10 ppt