The Blue Peacock Cichlid or Aulonocara nyassae is a popular species of Cichlid to keep in an aquarium. These beautiful freshwater fish originate from Lake Malawi in Africa. The male and female Blue Peacock Cichlid are very easy to tell apart, unlike a lot of other fish. The male is bright yellow with metallic blues, while the female is a brown or gray, not nearly as brightly colored. Males will even become brighter when they are spawning. You can check out the Blue Peacock Cichlid's mating ritual in the video below...If you are thinking of buying a Blue Peacock Cichlid for your aquarium be sure you have one that will house 60 gallons of water or more. This species of Cichlid should be given plenty of hiding spots, as well as rocks and a nice sandy bottom is ideal. The following water conditions are acceptable for this fish, 76-82° F, KH 10-15, and pH 7.8-8.6.
Blue Peacock Cichlids aren't particularly aggressive, but if they are housed with other Cichlids in too small of an aquarium things can get a little testy. If you provide them with a few females per male they will tend to get along better.
When the Blue Peacock Cichlid breeds it will take about three weeks before the fry hatch. Females are mouth brooders, which means that they keep their eggs inside their mouth and can protect the young fry even after they are hatched by allowing them to swim into their mouths for protection. You can feed the young fry crushed flake food and brine shrimp. After they grow larger these carnivores should be fed live and frozen brine shrimp, flake food and Cichlid pellet food. These fish can grow to about 7" when fully grown and can live about 12 years.
No comments:
Post a Comment