some questions

[Incredulous_Ed]

Well, i went to petsmart and bought three peacock cichlids, 1 male and 2 females, labeled as aulonocara jacobfreibergi. I got a great deal too. I read on cichlid-forum.com that aulonocara jacobfreibergi doesn't have eggspots, but the one i bought does.

Were they mislabeled, was cichlid-forum wrong, or is it some kind of hybrid?

Also, the male usually has one female in his cave while the other is in some other cave. Is this normal? How should i go about breeding them?

thanks

[Fishguy2727]

To breed you want to give them the best environment you can. That means clean water (lots of filtration and an aggressive water change schedule), a pH of 8.2, and Cichlid Lake Salts to simulate the natural chemistry of their native waters. You will also want the best diet possible, which from my experience is New Life Spectrum exclusively.

Yours may be a hybrid. Sexing should go along with other peacocks in that males are brightly colored while females retain the juvenile gray 'blah' coloration.

[Incredulous_Ed]

thanks fishguy! My peacocks just hang around at an angle, and sometimes the colorful male will erect his fins and shake them at the others. Is this normal? I always thought they would be swimming around instead of just hanging there all weird.

[Fishguy2727]

How big are they?

[Incredulous_Ed]

ok, they were mislabeled a petsmart. They are actually aulonocara hansbaenschi, not jacobfeibergi. The very colorful one is 3-4 inches, the other, gray ones are 2 inches. I think maybe one of the gray ones maybe just be another male.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

petsmart sells peacocks??? wow mine hardly has any cichlids at all

[Fishguy2727]

I got almost all of my peacocks cichlids as 'assorted african cichlids'. The only exception was the sunshine peacocks I got at Petsmart.

[cocoa_pleco]

I got almost all of my peacocks cichlids as 'assorted african cichlids'. The only exception was the sunshine peacocks I got at Petsmart.


same with me, they label them as assorted and its too confusing. my auratus was labeled as assorted and i remember i couldnt decide if it was a auratus or m.chipokae but its a auratus

the petsmarts here concentrate on cichlids alot, you can find lots of them

[Incredulous_Ed]

the petsmart near me concentrates more on community fish, like tetras and livebearers; they don't have many cichlids.