The aim of the present study was to compare the component parasite communities of the Pterophyllum scalare and Mesonauta acora cichlids in the Amazon River system in northern Brazil. From September to December 2012, 42 specimens of P. scalare and 38 specimens of M. acora were captured using hand nets and gillnets in the Igarap e Fortaleza basin, a tributary of the Amazon River in the state of Amap a. Of the P. scalare specimens examined, 97.6% were parasitized by Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, Tripartiella sp., Trichodina nobilis, Gussevia spiralocirra, Posthodiplostomum sp., Capillaria pterophylli, Ichthyouris sp. and Gorytocephalus spectabilis. Similarly, all specimens of M. acora were parasitized by I. multifiliis, Tripartiella sp, T. nobilis, Sciadicleithrum joanae, Posthodiplostomum sp., Pseudoproleptus sp., Ichthyouris sp. and G. spectabilis. However, for both hosts the dominance was of I. multifiliis and with an overdispersion of parasites. Parasite communities of P. scalare and M. acora were similar and only Pseudoproleptus sp. and Posthodiplostomum sp. were larvae. Brillouin diversity, parasite species richness and evenness were higher for M. acora than for P. scalare, which presented a negative correlation of parasite abundance with body size. Both cichlid species had parasite communities characterized by low diversity and low species richness, with a predominance of ectoparasite species and greatest richness of helminth species, with a low abundance of endoparasites. This was the first study on the parasite diversity in wild P. scalare and M. acora.