Aulonocara stuartgranti "Hongi Island"
Aulonocara stuartgranti (Border, Chesese, Chewere, Chiloelo, Chilucha Reef, Chilumba, Chimwalani Reef, Chinuni, Chiofu, Chirwa Island, Chisanga Point, Chitimba Bay, Chiwindi, Cobwe, Domwe Island, Gallireya Reef, Gome, Hai Reef, Hongi Island, Hora Mhango, Kande Island, Lions Cove, Liutche, Londo Bay, Lundo, Lundo Island, Luwala Reef, Maison Reef, Malopa, Mara Rocks, Masinje, Mbowe Island, Mdoka, Mdowa, Metangula, Mitande Reef (Rocks), Mkondowe, Mundola Point, Nametumbwe, Ngara, Nkhata Bay, Nkhungu Reef, Ntekete, Ntumba, Ruarwe, Sanga, Tchinga Reef, Thumbi West Island, Tumbi Point, Undu Reef, Usisya, Wikihi)
Hongi Island — HOHN-gee 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 stuartgranti account →Specific to Hongi 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 stuartgranti.
The Hongi Island population
The Hongi Island Peacock is the Aulonocara stuartgranti population associated with Hongi Island, a small island situated in the northern portion of Lake Malawi near the main Chilumba collection area at approximately 10°21'S — close to the Tanzanian border and within a stretch of shoreline that has yielded several well-documented stuartgranti colour forms. Males display orange-yellow to orange flanks with a metallic blue head, a coloration that falls within the warm-hued northern range typical of this species, and the island's geographic isolation has produced a population whose coloration is notably consistent across individuals. The hobby has tracked this as a distinct collection line for precisely that reason: island-restricted populations of stuartgranti, cut off from gene flow with adjacent mainland forms, offer a reliability of pattern that appeals to collectors focused on location-pure cichlids.
Colour reference: living Hongi Island fish at cichlidae.com →
About the species
Aulonocara stuartgranti, known in the hobby as Grant's peacock, is a maternal mouthbrooding cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi and one of the most familiar faces in the African-cichlid hobby. It is the archetypal "peacock": a sand-and-rock fish that hovers a few millimeters above the bottom and detects buried invertebrates with the enlarged lateral-line canals pitting its lower jaw — a sixth-sense feeding system confirmed in the lab on this very species. Across the lake it splits into dozens of vividly distinct geographic colour forms, from the orange-tailed Ngara "flametail" to the blue Usisya and Cobue, which is exactly why it is both beloved and a perennial hybridization headache for keepers.
Full Aulonocara stuartgranti account →Sources
- Konings, A. & Stauffer, J.R. Jr. (1988). Original description of Aulonocara stuartgranti
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Aulonocara stuartgranti
- Schwalbe, A.M.B., Bassett, D.K. & Webb, J.F. (2012). Feeding in the dark: lateral-line-mediated prey detection in Aulonocara stuartgranti. J. Exp. Biol. 215: 2060–2071
- Konings, A. (2016). Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 5th ed. Cichlid Press
- IUCN Red List — Aulonocara stuartgranti (2018)
- FishBase — Aulonocara stuartgranti
- Cichlid Room Companion — Aulonocara stuartgranti
- Chavula, G. et al. (2023). Threats to Lake Malawi biodiversity. Fisheries Research