Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Aulonocara sp. "Yellow Collar"

Aulonocara sp. "Yellow Collar" "Tsano Rock"

Tsano Rock — TSAH-noh ROK (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. "Yellow Collar" account →

Specific to Tsano Rock

  • 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. "Yellow Collar".

CARESNOT LISTED
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth49–164 ft15–50 m
DietSand-sifting micro-invertivore via ampullary lateral-line pores
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodersmall — a few dozen eggs (typical for the genus)
Sexual dimorphismYesMarked: nuptial males show the namesake collar and run larger; females and subordinate males plainer, silvery-brown and cryptic.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Tsano Rock population

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

Colour reference: living Tsano Rock fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Aulonocara sp. "Yellow Collar" is an UNDESCRIBED peacock cichlid of Lake Malawi — an informal field and hobby name, not a validly published species. It is one of the offshore, deep-water sand-dwelling Aulonocara of the lake's south-east arm: peacocks that live not on reefs but out over the open sandy floor, beyond the reach of casual diving, and are known mainly because trawl surveys brought them up. Documented in Gunther Turner's "Offshore Cichlids of Lake Malawi", this group hunts buried invertebrates across featureless sediment using the enlarged sensory pores of the head. No describing author, year, FishBase record, or IUCN assessment exists for "Yellow Collar"; the account here describes a recognised but unnamed form, and nothing about its authority or rank should be invented.

Full Aulonocara sp. "Yellow Collar" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. "Yellow Collar" "Tsano Rock"
  2. Turner, G.F. — Offshore Cichlids of Lake Malawi (Cichlid Press; primary source on trawled deep-water sand-dwelling Aulonocara)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority)
  4. MalawiCichlids.com — Aulonocara (M.K. Oliver; genus overview including sand-dwelling forms)
  5. malawi.si — Aulonocara (M.K. Oliver / Konings species database)
  6. FishBase — Aulonocara (genus; reference for peacock biology and described offshore relatives)