With new acquisitions and exhibits in the past couple years, we are now home to more and more iconic freshwater fish species; following the construction of a paludarium, home to banded archerfish, in 2016 and that of a red piranha tank in 2017, this year’s Night at the Zoo saw individuals of 15 African cichlid species move in with our Nile crocodile.
A little over a month later, we have further great news to report on as we have welcomed 7 Otopharynx tetrastigma and 16 ruby red peacock juveniles since mid-September. Still housed in a rearing facility behind the scenes, the little ones have a lot of growing to do before they can safely join the others in the crocodile pool.
Otopharynx tetrastigma and Aulonocara sp. stuartgranti maleri, the wild origin species of ruby red peacocks, are endemic to Lake Malawi in East Africa, home to over 600 known cichlid species. Both are mouth brooders, i. e. females use their mouths for incubating eggs. Based on appearance and behavior, African cichlids can be classified as either mbuna or non-mbuna. Smaller and more aggressive towards conspecifics, mbuna cichlids are herbivores that inhabit rocky coastal areas, whereas the larger non-mbuna cichlids, including the two aforementioned species, prefer wide-open areas with a sandy bottom and are considerably more peaceful; most of them are omnivores but there are also some fairly aggressive predators among them. Due to habitat loss and overexploitation of aquatic resources, both species are included in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.
Debrecen Zoo and Amusement Park
