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

Aulonocara sp. "Orange" "Monkey Bay"

Monkey Bay — MUNK-ee 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. "Orange" account →

Specific to Monkey 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. "Orange".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.1 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth26–82 ft8–25 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 an orange to orange-red wash with a blue-marked face; females and subordinate males are silvery-brown and cryptic.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Monkey Bay population

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

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

About the species

Aulonocara sp. "Orange" is an undescribed peacock cichlid from Lake Malawi — a fish known in the hobby and field literature but never given a formal scientific name. It takes its informal label from the warm orange wash that distinguishes its colour from the blue- and yellow-dominated peacocks that share the southern lake. 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 is recognised informally — principally through Ad Konings's work — and no authority, year, FishBase number, or Red List status should ever be attached to it.

Full Aulonocara sp. "Orange" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. "Orange" "Monkey Bay"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — Aulonocara genus and undescribed forms (Ad Konings, curator)
  3. malawicichlids.com — Aulonocara stuartgranti complex and southern-lake 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. Practical Fishkeeping — "Cichlids with a sixth sense" by Ad Konings (sensory feeding in Aulonocara)