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

Aulonocara sp. "Yellow" "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. "Yellow" 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. "Yellow".

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 clean yellow with a blue-marked face, coloured year-round; females and subordinate males silvery-brown and cryptic, hard to tell from related yellow peacocks.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Monkey Bay population

Aulonocara sp. "Yellow" "Monkey Bay" is the Monkey Bay population of Aulonocara sp. "Yellow", 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", 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. "Yellow" is an undescribed peacock cichlid from Lake Malawi — a fish recognised in the hobby and field literature but never given a formal scientific name. It takes its informal label from the clean yellow nuptial dress of its males, the colour that has made yellow peacocks among the most coveted fish in the Malawi trade and, historically, among the most muddled, since several unrelated yellow forms from the Maleri area and beyond have long been confused with one another. Like all peacocks it belongs to the lake's radiation of sand-sifting sensory hunters — fish that hover over open sand 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. "Yellow" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. "Yellow" "Monkey Bay"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — Aulonocara genus and undescribed forms (Ad Konings, curator)
  3. malawicichlids.com — Aulonocara stuartgranti complex and yellow-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)