I happen to have two albino dragonblood/strawberry peacock cichlids: Tiger & Bunny.
These are hybrid, line-bred cichlids of the Aulonocara species (peacock cichlid) that derives from Lake Malawi located in Africa.
It is the fourth largest fresh water lake in the world and the ninth largest lake in the world and is the home to at least 700 cichlid species, possibly more than a thousand and tend to be found in the shallow coastal waters.
While the Mbuna are known as very strong, aggressive cichlid and the alpha male to certain territories, the other is the Haplochromine Cichlids.And among the Haplochromine Cichlids is the genus Aulonocara aka “Peacock Cichlids”.
I have two albino Aluonocara fish known as the Dragon Blood (aka “Strawberry”) Peacock Cichlid and these are hybrids. Now how can you tell they are albino? Well, for one, it’s the eyes. Normal Dragon Blood Peacocks have black eyes, albino has reddish/orange eyes.
These are fish that thrive in warmer water and are semi-aggressive. They also like to sift through sand substrate and extract small invertebrates hidden in the sand.
They are active hunters and need a larger tank so they can establish territories.
I have named these two Tiger & Bunny (yes, based on the anime/manga series). Tiger being the more colorful one is the aggressive of the two. He wants everyone’s space as his territory. While Bunny is left to swim to the top, while Tiger has the bottom.
Bunny on the other hand knows that Tiger is going to get pissed off when she goes to his territory and he lets Bunny know.
But because these two were tank mates, he tolerates Bunny sometimes when Bunny wants to share the same space and both can be chill, hanging out, staying in the same place. But then Tiger, like a light switch turned on, he wants to chase Bunny away.
Granted, this fish is suited for a bigger tank and get a long with some Lake Malawi fish, but the larger the aquarium the better as they like to establish territories.
At this point, not sure if Bunny would find a territory because he/she is kind of goofy. Bunny wants what Tiger has and sometimes I wonder if he/she intends to piss Tiger off and Tiger easily reciprocates with chasing him repeatedly. And Tiger is often looking for him.
But this is the circle of life with cichlids. Lake Malawi is an area where they have to continually protect their mate or offspring and also find their own feeding territory. They are constantly defending their territory from other males and it’s a fulltime job for cichlids as they view any male going to their territory as a predator.
So far, I can say the albino Dragonblood/Strawberry Peacock Cichlids have a lot of personality, they are also inexpensive and look cool. But please remember, they are extremely territorial and semi-aggressive and thrive in big tanks with rock and sandy substrate.
