Golden Peacock Cichlid 5cm

Golden Peacock Cichlid

For the aquarists looking for a large growing, immensely colourful, and downright stunning fish, the golden Peacock cichlid would be the perfect option. When it comes to selectively bred African peacock cichlids, the golden peacock is always a great contender because of how vibrant and simple it is. With a large enough tank, these fish are quite easy to keep and their beauty along with ease of care makes them a fantastic display tank consideration.

The golden peacock gets its name from the bright gold colour it develops from head to tail. What's great is that these fish really get better with age, as juveniles they are really washed out but as they age the vibrance and boldness of the yellow comes through. These golden peacocks are closely related to strains like strawberry, yellow benga, and lemon peacock cichlids meaning that certain individuals can have some white speckling come through the scales. These fish do get large since they max out at 17 cm and African peacocks in general are commonly known to be semi-aggressive fish. They however only display aggression when it comes to territory, social hierarchy, and breeding.

Trying to find the males and females in African peacocks is easy. The easiest method is to look at the egg spots on the ventral fin of the fish. Males will have lots whereas females will have little to none, another common method is to look at the tips of the dorsal and ventral fin. In males, these tend to be more pointed whereas in females they are rounded. The wild habitat of African peacock cichlids is Lake Malawi however the golden peacock is very much a man-made colour strain.

Tank Recommendations for your Golden Peacock

The Golden Peacock is a very active fish that needs a tank that is at least 470 litres and around 4 feet minimum length. The main consideration for these fish is the aquarium environment itself. Since Golden peacock cichlids can be aggressive to one another, it is best to have a lot of visual breaks in the tank.

These fish also need a higher PH of around 8.0, this can be maintained using crushed coral or aragonite sand and conditioning salts. To also make the colours pop on the strawberry peacocks, keeping them on a dark background would also be great.

Suitable Tank Buddies

The golden peacock is peaceful and can be kept with other colour variations of the peacock species. Overstocking peacocks in aquariums is common to avoid aggression or territorial behaviour, however, this can lead to more water changes and maintenance. This can be avoided by keeping minimal fish in a large aquarium with lots of visual breaks. Consideration can be made to keep them with peaceful Mbunas and Haps.

Usually Compatible

Other African peacocks like dragon blood or neon blues and other common species such as electric yellow labs.

Sometimes Compatible

Larger haps such as Venustus, Fuscodichromis and small Africans such as julidochromis.

Rarely Compatible

Shrimp and nano aquarium fish like neon tetras, ember tetras, and very aggressive South American cichlids such as Oscars and Jaguar Cichlids.

Feeding your Golden Peacock cichlid

Golden peacocks like other peacock cichlids are very easy to feed. It is an opportunistic feeder and will readily eat a wide range of foods being both dry, fresh, and frozen. Their diet should contain good quality African cichlid pellets with high contents of spirulina or greens. Feeding these fish once a day will be perfectly fine.