Peacock Cichlid Care and Breeding
Popular Freshwater Aquarium Fish From Lake Malawi, Africa
Peacock Cichlids, scientific name aulonocara, are midsized peaceful fish that can be kept with other non-aggressive African Cichlids of the same size and with catfish.
In fact, if you’re trying to breed the Cuckoo Catfish, Peacock Cichlids make excellent hosts for the catfish eggs.
Peacock Cichlid Characteristics
Male Peacock Cichlids are some of the most colorful fish in Lake Malawi. In contrast, the female Peacock Cichlids are very dull in color.
These fish grow no bigger than six inches and can be accommodated in aquariums ranging from 45 to 75 gallons, depending on the size of colony desired for breeding.
Peacock Cichlid Tank Requirements
As with most African cichlid tanks, lots of rockery and driftwood are required in order to provide hiding places for the fish. Hardy plants can be added, but make sure they can withstand the hard water that cichlids require. These plants can also act as hiding places. Some species of cichlids eat plants so it’s best to choose plants carefully.
The pH in Lake Malawi ranges from 7.5 to 9.0 so you want to maintain your aquarium pH within the same range. To help keep up the pH level, you can add coral sand or gravel.
The water hardness should be in the range of 10 to 20 DH and the water temperature around 76 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit. Good filtration and weekly water changes are a must in order to help keep these fish in good health.
Feeding Peacock Cichlids is very easy. They like frozen foods, flake, pellets, small live foods and fresh vegetables such as lettuce or peas.
Peacock Cichlid Breeding
Breeding the Peacock Cichlid is not a difficult job because they are mouth brooders. If you have provided hiding places and your tank is clean and the water properties are correct, Peacock Cichlids will do the rest themselves.
The difficult part is matching the male and female fish in order to avoid hybridization. Every female Peacock Cichlid looks the same to the eye but each species has a different number of scales. To be correct in matching, you have to count the number of scales on the female and see if it agrees with the number of scales on the males. This step can be avoided if you buy a colony of fish from a reputable breeder.
Care of Peacock Cichlid Mother
Have a small tank on hand in order to isolate the pregnant female. Place the mother in this tank two weeks after discovering she is pregnant. This will allow a lead time of four to seven days before the eggs are hatched.
Remove the mother from the tank within four days of the eggs hatching. She will start to eat the babies because she thinks this is her food source. Have another small tank on hand for allowing the mother to recuperate.
Feed the mother well before putting her back into the community tank because breeding will start all over again. Females can starve to death if they have successive pregnancies so a nice break will prolong the life span of the female fish.
The babies will start eating ground flake as soon as they are let out of the mother’s mouth. Keep the babies in this small tank until they are big enough to be sold or moved to a larger tank.
Here is a list of some of the species of the Peacock family.
- Baensch's Peacock
- Yellow Peacock Cichlid
- Yellow Regal Cichlid
- Sunshine Peacock Cichlid
- Red Shoulder
- Lake Malawi Butterfly Cichlid
- Nyasa Peacock
- Grant's Peacock
Aulonocara Jacobfreibergi
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