Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Aulonocara sp. "Chitande Type Kande"

Aulonocara sp. "Chitande Type Kande" "Kande Island"

Kande Island — KAHN-deh 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. "Chitande Type Kande" account →

Specific to Kande 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. "Chitande Type Kande".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.3 in11 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; modest by analogy with similar peacocks (a few dozen eggs)
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males are the darkest of the Chitande Type forms, with a white-edged dorsal fin; females and non-breeding fish are drab and indistinguishable from other Chitande Type peacocks.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kande Island population

Aulonocara sp. "Chitande Type Kande" "Kande Island" is the Kande Island population of Aulonocara sp. "Chitande Type Kande", 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. "Chitande Type Kande", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

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

About the species

Aulonocara sp. "Chitande Type Kande" is an undescribed peacock cichlid from Lake Malawi — a fish recognised in the field by Ad Konings but never formally named, with no describing author, no year, and no entry in any scientific catalogue. It is the Kande Island member of the lake's so-called "Chitande Type" peacocks, a cluster of look-alike sand-dwellers whose drab females are nearly impossible to tell apart and whose males give each population its identity. The Kande fish is the dark one: among the Chitande Types it is reported to carry the most heavily pigmented male coloration, set off by a pale-edged dorsal fin. It lives over open sand around a single island on the central-western shore, sifting the substrate for buried invertebrates in the classic peacock manner, and it should be treated strictly as a documented hobby and field form rather than a described species.

Full Aulonocara sp. "Chitande Type Kande" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. "Chitande Type Kande" "Kande Island"
  2. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. 'chitande type kande' Kande Island (Konings-based species database; distribution, biotope, dimorphism, breeding)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Aulonocara sp. 'chitande type masinje' and the Chitande Type complex (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Cichlid Room Companion — Aulonocara auditor (notes Chitande Type Kande sharing Kande Island habitat)
  5. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi authority, recognises the Chitande Type forms)
  6. MalawiCichlids.com — Aulonocara genus overview (M.K. Oliver; sand-dwelling peacock biology)