Turquoise goldfish
| Turquoise goldfish | ||||||||||||
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Adult female |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Melanochromis auratus | ||||||||||||
| ( Boulenger , 1897) |
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The turquoise goldfish ( Melanochromis auratus ) is an African freshwater fish that is endemic to the southern part of Lake Malawi , from Jalo Reef, north of Nkhota Kota, along the west coast to the Crocodile Rocks. It is completely absent on the east coast of Lake Malawi. It lives on the rocky shore zone, also on the islands and on rocky reefs, and is one of the Mbunas .
features
Turquoise goldfish have a distinct sexual dimorphism . The males are up to eleven centimeters long and black with two light turquoise longitudinal stripes and yellow egg spots in the anal fin . Females are golden yellow with two black vertical stripes and reach a length of nine centimeters. Young animals show the colors of the females.
Fins formula : Dorsal XVIII – XIX / 5–6, Anale III / 6–8
Way of life
The turquoise goldfish is an upbringing eater that feeds on the algae growth on the rocks and also takes in all sorts of small invertebrates. Like all living in Lake Malawi cichlids are the turquoise sea bream mouthbrooders . The females take around 20 to 40 eggs into their mouths until the fry hatch after 22 to 26 days. The fry are about 10 millimeters long when they hatch.
Aquarium keeping
The fish should only be kept in aquariums with an edge length of at least one meter, in which many hiding places have been created with stone structures. One male should always be kept together with several females. Turquoise goldfish are aggressive towards related species.
literature
- Günther Sterba : The world's freshwater fish. 2nd Edition. Urania, Leipzig / Jena / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-332-00109-4 .
- Hans A. Baensch , Rüdiger Riehl : Aquariums Atlas. Volume 1, Mergus Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-88244-101-1 .
Web links
- Turquoise goldfish on Fishbase.org (English)
- Melanochromis auratus onthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Kasembe, J., 2006. Retrieved February 9, 2014.