“Made up of species native to Lake Victoria, Tanganyika and Malawi, our cichlid group seems to be doing splendidly, judging from the fact that they are once again the source of great news with the hatching of 18 bluegray mbunas (Pseudotropheus johannii) behind the scenes on January 24. Barely fingernail-sized for now, they are all yellow and orange until males will eventually start turning black-and-blue. Once big enough, they will join the others in our Nile crocodile pool. Thankfully our cichlid collection of over 20 species has been breeding excellently since the very beginning, so we expect to share further updates soon.
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, Night at the Zoo in 2020 saw the arrival of 15 African cichlid species in the Palm House, with 6 more species added last year. Based on appearance and behavior, African cichlids can be classified as either mbuna or non-mbuna. Smaller and more aggressive towards conspecifics, mbuna cichlids – including bluegray mbunas native to Lake Malawi – are herbivores that inhabit rocky coastal areas, whereas the larger non-mbuna cichlids prefer wide-open areas with a sandy bottom and are considerably more peaceful; most of them are omnivores but there are also predators among them.”
Debrecen Zoo
