Below is the dominant male Astatotilapia aeneocolor.

The Astatotilapia aeneocolor come from Lake Edward and Lake George, two of the satellite lakes in the Lake Victoria basin. The common name is the "yellow belly Albert" but strangely enough, it appears that this cichlid might not live in Lake Albert. My aeneocolor males are extremely aggressive toward each other. The males flare their gills (much like the fire mouth) and extend their fins and dance around each other. Then they lock mouths as they shake. I've removed the much smaller sub-dominant male, as he had no chance for survival.

My aeneocolor breed constantly. I have one male and four females and I can't remember any point in time when at least one of the females wasn't holding. The females aggressively defend their newborn using the same gill-flaring maneuver that the male employs.

This is a truly odd fish. They are not very active at all making picture taking easier than any species I've ever kept. All four females generally hover together in a tight knit group usually facing the same direction and barely moving. The male is usually under the rocks or moving the gravel all over the place. My dominant male is 5 inches (12.5 cm) long and the females are all around 2 1/2 inches (7 cm) long. The aggressive aeneocolor is doing well with my very aggressive nyererei.

Below is a young female, a young male and a young holding female aeneocolor

Below is a young male on the left and an older female on the right

A female holding fry on the left below and then the newborn fry on the right below

My aeneocolor spawning

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