Blue Dolphin & lilies?

[Andyroo]

Are Blue Dolphin cichlid to be trusted with water lilies?
Trusted with snails?

Those fine black teeth along the lip look like they'd be good for turf-algae, yet the lit suggests they live in the open sand.

 

[fishguy1978]

According to Seriously Fish:
It’s a micro-predator by nature, so the bulk of the diet should be composed of live and frozen foods. It relishes bloodworm, brine shrimp, chopped earthworms, prawns etc. Dried foods are also taken, but should not be fed exclusively.
I haven’t kept these before but if they are predators , it should be ok with plants. Try one and see what they do and if successful add more.

 

[Andyroo]

Thanks Fishguy, and apologies for taking so long to get back to this.

I bought four wee pups, lost one to don't-remember circa the third week.
Relatively slow growth but the tank is on the small side (55gal) while we await arowana re-home.
The colour is quite astounding - the blues are variable from sky to a freaky-cobalt, particularly at breakfast. I'll get snaps when they're in the bigger-prettier tank, though I fear they'll not pop in the all-artificial/LED light of that tank.
No particular plant issues & and they go nuts for snails & ostracods confirming the micropredator element. Much grubbing in the bottom/gravel, also, I expect for tetra & fallen angel eggs, though could be anything.
There seems to be a pair + 1 with aggression mounting, so need to get to re-homing soon-soon... and then back to the big-city petshop for a couple more

 

[Andyroo]

Online there's not much indication as to sexual dimorphism in this sp, at least nothing applicable to my three (assuming they're not all the same gender);
however, I am seeing pointed dorsal & anal fin posterior tips in two of them, as we might see in new-world cichlids, though online sources aren't mentioning this.
Thoughts?

 

[Milingu]

The older they get the bigger the difference in dorsal and anal fins. Female dorsal fin ends in a nearly 90 degree angle, the males dorsal fin gets quite pointy and the last soft rays are nearly parallel to the tail.