# Aulonocara baenschi



## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

Early attempt at fish photography showing both male and female A. baenschi. The male used to be the wimp in the tank but has turned into an absolute terror.


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

Looks a bit orange from the _A. baenschi_ that I'm used to seeing.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

That first picture is a nice shot though. I thought Baenschi were yellow and timid? I'm tossing around the idea of keeping a trio next year, just wondering. Any chance this is not a Baenschi?


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## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

DJRansome said:


> I thought Baenschi were yellow and timid?


That is my thoughts. Every _A. baenschi_ I've seen is yellow with a blue face.


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## likebutta (Dec 2, 2003)

Great looking fish but I would say it's a Baenshi..
I have 2 myself and there both yellow with a blue face.
I would go to say yours is possibly a Ruby Red :thumb: .


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## herny (Nov 30, 2007)

it looks like a hybrid to me it has the blue face of the Baenshi.. and the yellow blue tail and the red body of the ruby


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## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

why_spyder- Perhaps the color in these photos has something to do with the processing that was done, but in real life it does have an almost orange color too, even if not as bright as the flash would lead you to believe. I feed Tetra Color Bits which were recommended to help bring out a fish's color. Would that be the factor?

Interestingly, the LFS where I bought mine also has a specimen in his show tank, which I'm guessing is all-male. The color is closer to what is pictured in Ad Konning's Malawi Cichlid book. Or perhaps the females are ensuring that the male is always at his best?

DJRansome- I found that strange as well...from literature these guys are supposed to be timid. Well, the male was. It was chased around by all the 3 females during the first few weeks. But once he started to breed and caught up in size with them his aggression picked up markedly. That might have something to do with the temperature also. I increased it from 25.5 deg initially to 26.5.

likebutta & herny- Ruby Red...would that be some sort of hybrid? I need to read more about those. Interesting is the fact that the LFS guy hardly sells any hybrids in his shop. Whenever I mentioned a particular fish in his shop he was always quick to admit if they were hybrids, but he never said such a thing about these baenschi.

Heheh...also, he previously told me that he will buy fry from me only if they're not hybrid. Anyway, I don't really have anything against hybrids, but given the choice, I would only buy or breed specimens that resemble those in the wild.


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## paparossco (Mar 21, 2003)

nice fish I am not sure if there is another baenschi variant but here is my Baenschi "Nkhomo Reef" and the one that most of these people are talking about. I don't feed colour bits because they can turn yellow fish orange so it may be food related.


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## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

paparossco said:


> nice fish I am not sure if there is another baenschi variant but here is my Baenschi "Nkhomo Reef" and the one that most of these people are talking about. I don't feed colour bits because they can turn yellow fish orange so it may be food related.


I see...the photo you posted shows a coloration close to that in Ad Konnings book. Not sure what variant I have exactly since I didn't ask. But I read more about the Ruby Red and mine definitely doesn't look like that.

There's 4 electric yellows in my tank as well as 5 lithobates. The dominant male lab does have color that's a very deep yellow but not orange, and the lithobates, well, they're still too young to show any color, except for the three spots on the side.


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## Guest (Jul 6, 2008)

Yours is a Ruby Red/German Red/Rubescens peacock...

Here are links to the profile: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1313

and http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1311

Yours definitely is not a baenschi... Or at least I highly doubt it is... It could be a baenschi and rubescens/ruby red/german red cross though, or just a normal ruby red/rubescens/german red.


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## Guest (Jul 6, 2008)

paparossco said:


> nice fish I am not sure if there is another baenschi variant but here is my Baenschi "Nkhomo Reef" and the one that most of these people are talking about. I don't feed colour bits because they can turn yellow fish orange so it may be food related.


Yours is a true baenschi. As far as I know they are only found at two locations, Benga Bay and Nkhomo reef which is very close to Benga Bay.

The baenschi typically looks like the pictures in the profile. The one I have came from Atlantis cichlids (florida fish farm) and looks like these guys:


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## renegade545 (Jul 4, 2008)

Whatever he is, he is awesome, very colorful.


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## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

Marduk said:


> Yours is a Ruby Red/German Red/Rubescens peacock...
> 
> Here are links to the profile: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1313
> 
> ...


Thanks for the links. The color in those fish looks more red than I'm seeing in the fish I have, but maybe time will tell. It's a little worrying that I probably bought something other than what I was really looking for, but nevertheless, if it's not a hybrid then I rest easy.

Over the last two months I've had two holding females but nothing come out of it. One held on for ages and finally released all the fry when I was asleep. When I awoke most of them must have been eaten. Three were found caught in my filter sponge. It was a terrible sight. Released them from the sponge and put them in a plastic bag suspended in my tank and thankfully, one of them survived.

It's growing rapidly in a floating perspex tank in my main tank and has been doing well for the last 3 weeks. Hope it will survive.


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## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

renegade545 said:


> Whatever he is, he is awesome, very colorful.


Thanks. It is hoped that he would stay this way. He puts on quite a show, but as I said he's also a lot more aggressive than he used to be when I first bought it.


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## Guest (Jul 6, 2008)

Well technically the ruby red/german red/rubescens is a hybridized man made fish originally from breeders in Germany. Not that it's bad that it's a hybrid, just that you now know what it really is. If you like it, I say keep him. He has nice colors to him...

If you're wondering about rubescens though, this is a picture of the *latest strain* coming out of germany:









It's called a "blood red rubescens".


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## Melanochromis (Mar 30, 2005)

Stunning fish I like Peacocks and I would like to have an all male tank. :thumb:


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## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

Marduk said:


> Well technically the ruby red/german red/rubescens is a hybridized man made fish originally from breeders in Germany. Not that it's bad that it's a hybrid, just that you now know what it really is. If you like it, I say keep him. He has nice colors to him...
> 
> If you're wondering about rubescens though, this is a picture of the *latest strain* coming out of germany:
> 
> It's called a "blood red rubescens".


Man, that is an incredible looking specimen. I certainly like my current fish and I'm not looking to get rid of him, however I also hope he'll quickly grow bigger.


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## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

Melanochromis said:


> Stunning fish I like Peacocks and I would like to have an all male tank. :thumb:


Heheh...my Mum always tells me she wish I went for an all-male tank instead of the 1M3F ratio I'm aiming for. More color is nice I suppose, but when I started off I wanted a more 'natural' ratio. Arguably, once fish are in an aquarium, it's all artificial anyway, even though we try to replicate nature in most instances.


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## TorontoRaptorsFan (May 20, 2005)

Aulonocara Baenschi is by far the best looking peacock.

I bought a colony a while back and the male is stunning! Great choice!!!

:thumb:


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## rsuarez1982 (Sep 2, 2006)

Good looking fish. :thumb:

Mine is in the process of developing it's true color. I can't wait.


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## YoungAquaticPhotos (Aug 24, 2006)

I thought they were mostly yellow too. Here are a few pics of mine:
*MALE*








*Female*








*Wrigglers*


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## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

TorontoRaptorsFan- Yes, they are great-looking fish. In a way the fish I can buy is severely limited by what's available in Australia. There were perhaps a number of other species I would have like to try. That said, I'm happy with what I have, but seeing how long they're supposed to live, I don't know if I'll be able to keep them all their life. If I should go back to my hometown again to work, what would I do?

rsuarez1982- Thanks for the comment. How big are yours? I suspect that my fish have not developed full coloration yet as they are perhaps only 3 1/2 inches from head to tail. However the male was already showing some color in the shop when he was smaller.

YoungAquaticPhotos- The photo of your wrigglers left me somewhat guilty that I didn't shift the female to a separate tank before she spat. I was trusting that it will all work out but it didn't. In the end I wound up saving just 3 fry from the sponges of my internal filter and only 1 survived that incident. Today that fry is almost 1cm long and it's a very precious fish indeed.


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## NorthShore (Feb 3, 2006)

A couple of pics of my wild benga/baenschi when I landed him about 3 months ago...And a couple of pics I took of a Rubescens that belongs to a friend of mine.

_click on pics to enlarge_


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## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

NorthShore said:


> A couple of pics of my wild benga/baenschi when I landed him about 3 months ago...And a couple of pics I took of a Rubescens that belongs to a friend of mine.


Nice pics there, especially of the Ruby Red. By 'landed him', what do you mean? Did you actually catch him from the wild or was he a wild specimen from the shop? It'd be nice to get my own fish but obviously impossible where I live.


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## NorthShore (Feb 3, 2006)

When I brought him home from the lfs is what I was referring to.


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## liquidkiwi (Apr 26, 2008)

NorthShore said:


> When I brought him home from the lfs is what I was referring to.


Haha! For a moment I was thinking to myself 'How good it would be to net my own fish!'


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## kbuntu (Aug 25, 2008)

Marduk said:


> Well technically the ruby red/german red/rubescens is a hybridized man made fish originally from breeders in Germany. Not that it's bad that it's a hybrid, just that you now know what it really is. If you like it, I say keep him. He has nice colors to him...
> It's called a "blood red rubescens".


Hybrids? Maybe Cichlid-Forum should update the information http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/red_peacocks.php


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