Lake Malawi - Thumbi West Island

The red shoulder peacock, Aulonocara hansbaenschi, is a cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, known from four localities on its southeastern shore. Some authors regard it as a geographical variant of the highly variable A. stuartgranti. It is also sold as the 'firebird cichlid' and 'red peacock'. At Masinje it shows a distinct preference for rocky caves and crevices in 3 to 6 metres of water, where most of the genus forage over sand.

Grant's peacock, Aulonocara stuartgranti, is a cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, widely distributed along both the east and west coastlines. Males vary in colour by locality, with blue forms found mostly in the north of the lake and yellow in the south, and many populations are traded under their own names. That variation has caused taxonomic problems: A. baenschi, A. korneliae and A. hueseri were all once considered forms of it. It inhabits the intermediate zones where rocky shores give way to sand.