Aulonokara nyasa - queen of cichlids

One of the most popular fish for aquarists is aulonokara nyasa. Fairly large schooling fish, able to recognize the owner and enter into a kind of dialogue with him, will quickly become favorites.

Endemic from Africa

They are inhabitants of one of the deepest and cleanest lakes in the world, called Nyasa or Malawi. The tropical waters of this volcanic lake have become the source of an incredible variety of aquarium favorites.

Aulonocara nyasa (Aulonocara nyassae), a synonym for the queen of nyasa, a fish of the family Cichlid. Unlike other cichlids, nyasa is found only in the lake of the same name. Behaves in nature a bottom-line lifestyle and eats insects, sifting the soil.

A distinctive feature of the aulonocar is a fairly large head, with indentations along the edge of the gill covers. The average size of mature individuals is up to 15 centimeters.

The cleverest

It has long been noted that aulonokary are sociable and friendly. With careful maintenance, they recognize the owner, swim to say hello. As he approaches the aquarium, they noticeably brighten up and willingly go to contact. With each other, these cichlids also communicate in a very original way - performing intricate gestures and even using some sounds.

Most beautiful

Like all cichlids, the color of the female and male is different. In this case, males are always brighter and colorful. Females all have a silvery color in the color range from olive to brownish, with appearing transverse dark strips. Fins transparent.

Males are found in four color variants: blue, ruby, yellow and multicolor. At any variant shades of color smoothly pass in each other.

The head is always darker, and the back has an olive-greenish shade. When excited on the sides appear stripes of dark color. Unpaired fins - blue with black impregnations. The fin is long on the back and has a light border. Anal fin marked, with reddish patches. It is interesting that the closer to the maturity, the more vividly the color of the males of aulonokar nyasa. The blue coloring of the male during the spawning period is the most beautiful. Although other varieties of color look elegant.

Aquarium for fish such as aulonokara

Nyasa blue and blue in nature live in groups. In the aquarium it is possible to have both single and group contents. For these fish, the water volume is calculated as 50 liters per individual, but the amount of water and the size of the aquarium are not important. It is desirable that it was long and wide. In the case of group maintenance, there are several females per males. If there are several males, skirmishes can not be avoided. For the bottom of the aquarium sand is preferable, it is necessary to have shelters (flat stones, shards). Aulonokary filter the soil, so it is better to plant the plants in separate pots.

It requires filtration and active aeration of water in the aquarium. The optimum temperature of the content is 22-30 degrees Celsius. Substitution of up to 30% of water is desirable weekly.

Relationship to neighbors

These cichlids, though predators, but friendly to most of the neighbors. Although during spawning time, males become very aggressive. And by themselves these fish are so beautiful and busy that it's more interesting to watch them without being distracted.

Behavior during spawning

As already mentioned, the male, having prepared to spawn, will persistently pursue the female and, if she is not ready, can drive her. This requires the presence of at least a pair of females per male. The male himself chooses the territory for spawning and aggressively drives the female there. If you have a rival, the fish becomes very aggressive and can seriously injure the opponent.

Feeding

Vegetable, animal feed will fully satisfy the fish's appetite for appetite. Of animal feeds are suitable daphnia, cyclops, both in fresh and frozen form. Special food for cichlids is quite suitable. Fish are unpretentious and eat everything.

Feed the fish twice a day. The volume of food corresponds to what was eaten within two minutes. Aulonokara nyasa with overeating is prone to obesity and becomes inactive.

Reproduction

Sexually mature aulonokara nyasa becomes in 14 months. For reproduction, it is important to have shelters where the female can hide from the male. The female lays up to 50 eggs on a flat surface, after fertilization takes them into the mouth. And so it will last three weeks - the female will be in shelter. After this period, the fry will sometimes leave their shelter, but hide for the night. At the beginning of life, the optimum fry for fry is moyna, cyclops, nauplii artemia.

Among the fry, cases of cannibalism on the part of the larger ones are not uncommon. Therefore, it is advisable to carry out periodic sorting of fish by size.

Features of the content

Aulonokara Queen Nyasa in connection with the origin and their endemicity has some specific features of the content. What you should pay attention to:

• Water hardness index. Our tap water is too soft for them. To increase this indicator in the aquarium at the bottom put marble in pebbles or crumbs.
• Water in the aquarium is prone to oxidation. Acidity is the enemy of these fish. They can begin to ache and lose appetite. It is advisable to buy test strips (on a free sale in a pharmacy) and check the water performance, maintaining a neutral environment.
• The water temperature may drop slightly. Even 23 degrees Celsius adult nyasy will survive. But the fry will die.
• In the volcanic lake of Malawi, the water is very clean. Therefore, as already mentioned, replacing 30% of water once a week will save your pets from disease.

Proper care will ensure health, good appetite and pleasant communication with such fish as aulonokara nyasa. And, as a consequence, their lives are up to eight years. Given the overall high cost of these fish, it is in the interests of the aquarist.