Cynotilapia aurifrons
Cynotilapia aurifrons or Cynotillapia goldenis naturally inhabits the northwestern part of Lake Malawi. The fish keep among the rocky rocks at depths of 3 to 40 m. The fish was first described by Tawil in 2011. The name Cynotilapia is composed of two words: supo from Latin translates as dog, and tilapia is a collective characteristic for all African cichlids. The name Aurifrons is composed of two parts: auri means gold and frons indicates the coloration of the dorsal plumage of males.
Male Cynotilapia aurifrons are brightly colored. Their body is dark brown or black, with a slight bluish sheen. There are 8-9 black transverse stripes on the sides of the males. The first of these stripes begins just behind the gill cover. Between the black stripes are thinner stripes with lighter blue shine. The dorsal plumage is light blue with golden edging. Rays of the posterior fin is usually black. Pectoral, pelvic, and anal fins are black with a thin light blue line along the leading edge. Tail fin black with thin blue lines. The caudal fin rim is the same golden yellow color as the dorsal fin. The coloration of the females is brownish. They also have stripes on the body, but they are not as distinct as the males. In aquariums, males reach a size of 9 cm and females about 7 cm.
The aquarium for Cynotilapia aurifrons should be at least 150 centimeters long. Adult males are territorial and fiercely guard their territory. As a substrate used coarse-grained river sand. At the bottom of large rocks so that between them were formed crevices, which could swim freely by the fish. Pisces are constantly digging in the ground and often pull plants out of it along with the roots, so it is better to limit the bushes floating on the surface of the water.
Since males are territorial, you can keep only one male in the aquarium. Preferably contain 1 male and 2-3 females.
Water parameters: temperature 22-26° C, hardness dH 8-16°, pH acidity 7,5-8,5. Requires filtration, aeration and weekly replacement of ¼ of the aquarium water with fresh.
In nature Cynotilapia aurifrons feed mainly on plankton floating in the water. under aquarium conditions, the fish are fed artemia, daphnia, live and frozen bloodworm. The food is given 1-2 times a day.
Reproduction
Like other Malawian cichlids, Cynotilapia aurifrons incubates eggs in its mouth. During the spawning period, the male makes a small round-shaped hole in the substrate. Then he, spreading his fins, begins to shake his whole body attracting the female. The female, who paid attention to the male courtship, swims up to the nest and spawns there a portion of eggs, and the male immediately fertilizes it. The female then collects the eggs in her mouth. This continues until the female fully spawns.
After a few days, the fry will hatch in the female's mouth and feed on substances from her yolk sac for the first few days of their lives. The fry are in no hurry to leave their mother's mouth and remain there for about three weeks. During this time, the female does not eat anything.
After three weeks, the fry leave their mother's mouth and begin to live an independent life. To save the stock of fry immediately after they left the female mouth, it is desirable to transfer them to another aquarium.
The fry are fed shredded flake food at least 4 times a day.
Cynotilapia aurifrons has a lifespan of about 7-10 years.
