Lateral Line March 2011 - Hill Country Cichlid Club

16Do you know? Aulonocara sp. "stuartgranti Maleri" (Maleri Island)-Kory WatkinsA beautiful male Aulonocara sp. “stuartgranti Maleri” in the aquarium of the author.I bet many of you have heard someone saythat they have a Sunshine Peacock. Most areprobably correct. However I would also betthat some of the time, they in fact, have beenmisguided. There are a few different speciesof peacocks that are referred to as the“sunshine peacock.” There are many beautifulAulonocara species from Lake Malawibut the true Sunshine Peacock is eye candy.The Aulonocara sp. "stuartgrantiMaleri" (Maleri Island) is an extremely attractivepeacock from Lake Malawi in Africa.When growing up, males and femalesare pretty much identical and can not besexed on sight. If you have several differentbreeding species of Peacock it is a must toseparate the fry. At 2-3 inches the males willstart to mature and the first tinges of colorstart to appear. Females will always retainthe same dull color with faded vertical lines.Once the males are fully grown they willdisplay a bright blue and yellow color thatwill make you gape for days.At present, the species is included in the A.stuartgranti complex by virtue of its similarbehavior and body shape. It is separatedfrom others in the complex as it appears toform an isolated population in the lake, suggestingit is a distinct species. There are severalgeographical variants available, as wellas a couple of man-made forms that exhibita deep orange/red colorations. It should benoted that neither these, nor any other speciesor morph of Aulonocara should bemixed in the aquarium. Females of the variousspecies are almost identical and theymay hybridize. Please make sure you arecertain which species you are working with.The "stuartgranti Maleri" has not yet beendescribed to science but is everywhere in thehobby. The appearance in color and patternis very close to an Aulonocara baenschi. It isvery often referred to as a “Sunshine” or“Yellow Peacock”. If you compare thesnouts of the two they can be told apart. InA. baenschi, the profile of the snout contin-