Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata"

Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata" "Nkhata Bay"Brevirostris Nkhata peacock

Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata" (Nkhata Bay)

Nkhata Bay — n-KAH-tah BAY (approx.)

The fish

How this cichlid is built, and everything about how it lives, eats and breeds, is shared with the species — this page doesn't repeat it.

Read the full Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata" account →

Specific to Nkhata Bay

  • Collection locality & coordinates
  • Local coloration — best judged from the living-fish photo
  • Kept as a single-provenance line, never crossed with other collection points

Care facts below are the species' — shared with Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata".

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesAulonocara nyassaeRegan 1922
Scientific size5 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 446 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth26–98 ft8–30 m
DietSand-sifting micro-invertivore via ampullary lateral-line pores
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest (a few dozen eggs)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales iridescent blue with darker barring and a short, steep snout; females and subordinate males silvery-brown and cryptic.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkhata Bay population

Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata" "Nkhata Bay" is the Nkhata Bay population of Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Nkhata Bay fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata" is an undescribed peacock cichlid from Lake Malawi — a fish recognised in the hobby and field literature but never given a formal scientific name. Its informal label couples a descriptive epithet, brevirostris ("short-snouted"), with its locality at Nkhata Bay on the western shore, marking it as the short-snouted peacock of that coast. It is regarded as a population allied to the short-snouted peacocks of the lake, related to fish circulated under names such as Aulonocara brevirostris; the affinity is stated here honestly as a likeness, not a confirmed identity. Like all peacocks it belongs to the lake's radiation of sand-sifting sensory hunters — fish that hover over open sand and listen, through enlarged pits on the head, for invertebrates buried below. No authority, year, FishBase number, or Red List status should ever be attached to it.

Full Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. "Brevirostris Nkhata" "Nkhata Bay"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — Aulonocara genus and undescribed forms (Ad Konings, curator)
  3. malawicichlids.com — Aulonocara brevirostris and short-snouted peacock forms (M.K. Oliver)
  4. malawi.si — Aulonocara species database (Konings-based; biotope, distribution, diet, breeding)
  5. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi authority)
  6. FishBase — Aulonocara brevirostris (the short-snouted relative this form is allied with)
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