Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Aulonocara sp. "Jalo"

Aulonocara sp. "Jalo" "Jalo Reef"

Jalo Reef — JAH-loh REEF (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. "Jalo" account →

Specific to Jalo Reef

  • 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. "Jalo".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.7 in12 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth49–98 ft15–30 m
DietSand-sifting micro-invertivore; uses ampullary lateral-line pores to detect prey in sand (though this form, unusually, has not been seen feeding in the typical hovering posture and appears to glean invertebrates within caves)
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form
Sexual dimorphismYesMales in nuptial colour resemble the yellow form of A. stuartgranti; females and non-breeding fish are drab and rarely seen, remaining hidden in caves.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Jalo Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Jalo Reef fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Aulonocara sp. "Jalo" is an undescribed peacock cichlid from Lake Malawi — a fish recognised and named by Ad Konings but never yet given a formal scientific name. It is one of the lake's strangest peacocks: a cave-dweller endemic to a single submerged reef, Jalo Reef, off the central-western shore near Nkhotakota. Males wear a colour pattern that closely echoes the yellow form of Aulonocara stuartgranti, but the resemblance is skin-deep. Where almost every other Aulonocara hovers over open sand and "listens" through enlarged head pores for invertebrates buried below, the Jalo fish has never once been seen feeding that way. It lives quietly in dark caves among the boulders, rarely glimpsed, and remains one of the least-understood members of the peacock radiation.

Full Aulonocara sp. "Jalo" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. "Jalo" "Jalo Reef"
  2. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. 'jalo' Jalo Reef (Konings-based species database; biotope, distribution, diet, breeding)
  3. Practical Fishkeeping — "Cichlids with a sixth sense" by Ad Konings (cave-dwelling Aulonocara, including sp. 'jalo')
  4. Cichlid Room Companion — Aulonocara genus and undescribed forms (Ad Konings, curator)
  5. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi authority, recognises sp. 'jalo')