Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Aulonocara sp. "cf. macrochir"

Aulonocara sp. "cf. macrochir" "Boadzulu Island"

Boadzulu Island — boh-ah-DZOO-loo EYE-land (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. "cf. macrochir" account →

Specific to Boadzulu Island

  • 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. "cf. macrochir".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.1 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth33–98 ft10–30 m
DietSand-sifting micro-invertivore via ampullary lateral-line pores
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest (a few dozen eggs)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales carry the blue nuptial dress of the deep-water nyassae/macrochir peacocks; females and subordinate males are silvery-brown and cryptic.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Boadzulu Island population

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

Colour reference: living Boadzulu Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Aulonocara sp. "cf. macrochir" is an undescribed peacock cichlid from the southern reaches of Lake Malawi — a fish recognised in the field and hobby literature but never given a formal scientific name. The "cf." in its label is a deliberate scientific hedge, the abbreviation of the Latin confer, "compare with": it marks a population that closely resembles, and is allied to, the deep-water peacock long known in the hobby as Aulonocara nyassae (the "macrochir" of older usage), without being confirmed as the same thing. Like all peacocks it belongs to the lake's radiation of sand-sifting sensory hunters — fish that hover over open substrate and listen, through enlarged pits on the head, for invertebrates buried below. It remains an informal, Konings-recognised form, and no authority, date, or Red List status should ever be attached to it.

Full Aulonocara sp. "cf. macrochir" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. "cf. macrochir" "Boadzulu Island"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — Aulonocara genus and undescribed forms (Ad Konings, curator)
  3. malawicichlids.com — Aulonocara nyassae / macrochir complex and southern-lake peacocks (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 nyassae (deep-water peacock; the described relative this form is compared with)