New Yellow Regal Peacock Care Guide - Tank Setup, Diet & Breeding

New Yellow Regal Peacock is a brilliantly coloured Lake Malawi cichlid prized for its golden-yellow body, blue facial markings and iridescent blue colouring on the fins and head. Mature males are especially vivid, while females are more subdued silver-grey or brownish with darker vertical markings. Colour intensity varies with age, mood and social status.

Like other peacock cichlids, Aulonocara baenschi uses sensory pores in its lower jaw to detect small invertebrates hidden in the sand. It often hovers just above the substrate before making a quick dive to investigate potential prey, giving it a distinctive, deliberate hunting style.

This species is generally calmer than many Lake Malawi mbuna, although males can be territorial around spawning sites. They are active, observant fish that spend much of their time in the lower and middle areas of the aquarium, moving between open sand and rocky cover.

In the wild, New Yellow Regal Peacocks inhabit the clear, alkaline waters of Lake Malawi. Their natural environment combines sandy bottoms with scattered rocks, and this background helps explain their preference for open foraging areas and sheltered territories.

New Yellow Regal Peacock is the aquarium trade name commonly used for the yellow colour form of Aulonocara baenschi, a peacock cichlid native to Lake Malawi in East Africa. The species is associated with sandy habitats and rocky areas around the lake’s southern region, including the Nkhomo area.

A group or harem should be kept in an aquarium of at least 200 litres, with a larger tank of around 300 litres or more preferable for a male and several females. A footprint of approximately 120 cm by 40 cm provides useful swimming space and allows territories to be separated. Use fine sand or another smooth substrate, arrange limestone or other aquarium-safe rocks into caves and visual barriers, and leave generous open areas for foraging. Efficient filtration, strong oxygenation and stable, alkaline water are important.

Males reach about 13 cm (5.1 in) in length, while females are usually smaller at around 10 cm (3.9 in).

Offer a varied diet based on quality cichlid pellets or flakes, supplemented with foods such as spirulina flakes, finely chopped seafood and occasional frozen or live brine shrimp or daphnia. Their natural feeding behaviour involves sifting sand for tiny invertebrates, so sinking foods are useful. Avoid making mammalian meat or very fatty foods part of the diet, and feed modest portions once or twice daily.

Suitable tankmates include other peaceful peacock cichlids, compatible Copadichromis species and some similarly sized, relatively mild Lake Malawi haps. Avoid housing them with aggressive mbuna, highly predatory Malawi cichlids or fish that are too small to defend themselves. Keeping several Aulonocara species together can lead to territorial conflict and hybridisation, particularly when females of similar-looking species are present. A single male with multiple females is usually more harmonious than several males in a modest aquarium.

New Yellow Regal Peacocks are maternal mouthbrooders. Maintain one male with several females and provide flat rocks or open sand where spawning can take place. The male displays around a chosen site, while the female collects the fertilised eggs in her mouth and incubates them for around three weeks. She may release free-swimming fry among rocks, where they can be fed newly hatched brine shrimp, crushed flakes or fine cichlid foods. Remove the male or other adults if they threaten the fry.

Males are larger and develop intense golden-yellow and blue colouring, especially across the face, flanks and fins. Females remain smaller and are generally silver-grey or brownish with darker vertical bars and much less iridescence.