Blue Peacock Cichlid
(Aulonocara Nyassae)
Emperor Cichlid

Geographic History

This beautiful sapphire colored fish comes from Lake Malawi in Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.  The are usually found in rocky areas of the sandy lake bed. 

Enviornment

This African Cichlid prefers a sandy or fine gravel substrate with lots of larger rocks scattered around.  Some of the rocks should be stacked to form caves so that they will have dark areas to hide.  Be sure to leave quite a bit of open area in the middle of the aquarium for swimming room.  This fish likes to graze on algae, so allowing some to grow in your aquarium will be necessary. 

Compatibility

This is a relatively peaceful cichlid that is well suited to a community aquarium of like sized fish.  Males can become territorial and aggressive to other males of their own kind though.  They are best kept in groups of one male and two or three females.  If kept in tight quarters with other fish, Blue Peacocks will tend to be more aggressive than normal.

Sexing

Adult males will grow to be much bigger than adult females.  The males are bright yellow with vivid blue areas on their body and head.  Females will be brown and grey with more subdued bluish colors.  Spawning males will display much brighter colors than normal.

Behavior

Blue Peacock Cichlids are active fish that will swim peacefully with other species of similiar size.  They spend a fair amount of time sifting the substrate for bits of uneaten food and grazing on algae.

Breeding

These fish can be bred in a community aquarium if they have plenty of hiding spots for the juveniles.  Females will keep around 40 eggs in their mouth until they hatch.  The fry are resonably large for baby fish.  They can be fed crushed flake food and baby brine shrimp.

The female will stay close to the fry and allow them to swim into her mouth if they feel threatened.  The male will have no part in the protection of the fry after spawning.

For more information, go to Wikipedia's Blue Peacock Cichlid page.