Description

The Red Shouldered Peacock is endemic to the southern part of Lake Malawi, between Fort Maguire and Masinje. It belongs to the Peacock group of cichlids and is found in the intermediate zone, where rocky shores give way to wide expanses of sand. Unusually, it shows a preference for rocky caves, which is in contrast to many other Aulonocara species that prefer an open expanse of sand in which they can forage for sand-dwelling invertebrates. The aquarium should be at least 4ft long and aquascaped with open expanses of sand in addition to a number of rocky areas including caves. Decor such as ocean rock can be used to build sturdy structures which stretch from the base of the tank to near the surface of the water. These structures should be built with the purpose of creating many crevices for the fish to explore but constructed in such a way so as to keep the rocks stable if the fish start to dig around and underneath them. Although a substrate of coral sand or Aragonite is often recommended to help to keep the water hard and alkaline, Peacocks feel safer and show better colours over a darker substrate. The Aragonite or coral sand can always be placed into a mesh bag and kept inside the external filter for buffering purposes. This is a relatively peaceful species (as far as Malawi cichlids are concerned), however, whilst it may be tempting to add more of the colourful males than females to your setup, this is unnatural for a Peacock colony and will result in territorial disputes and stress. The ideal combination would be one or two males with a larger group (5+) of females. This species can be kept successfully alongside midwater Haps such as Copadichromis, Cyrtocara, Placidochromis etc and some of the more easygoing Mbuna (such as Labidochromis caeruleus). However, it should be the only Peacock species in the aquarium in order to avoid hybridization. May also be seen on sale as Fort Maguire Peacock.

Feeding

Omnivorous. Offer a good quality flake food, appropriately sized granular foods, and small meaty frozen foods such as Mysis shrimp, vitamin/Spirulina-enriched brine shrimp, mosquito larvae etc along with some vegetable matter such as cucumber, blanched spinach and romaine lettuce.