[2] It has a small, upward pointing mouth[3] in which the jaws do not reach farther than the forward margin of the eye.

[6] Australoheros facetus has a native range in the Río de la Plata Basin in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and in the coastal drainages of Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and Buenos Aires in Argentina.

[4] A. facetus has been recorded as a host of the trematode Centrocestus formosanus, an intestinal parasite of piscivorous birds and mammals, which is known to infect people in its native range which is Asia.

The alternative common name, chanchito is Spanish and means "piglet" and refers to its pugnacious nature and habit of digging up plants.

[3] The chameleon cichlid is tolerant of a wide variety of water conditions and was one of the first species to be widespread in the hobby of fishkeeping[3] and they are easy to breed.