Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Malawi · Malawi

Ababi Island

ah-BAH-bee EYE-land (approx.)

The atlas records 6 collection-point forms from Ababi Island, across 6 genera.

13.4316°S 34.4967°E

Ababi Island is one of the Mbenji Islands, in Lake Malawi's Malawian waters, under 1 km north-east of Mbenji Island.

Where it is

Ababi Island is in open water about 8.7 mi off the western shore, in the southern third of Lake Malawi (273 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Penga Penga Island 0.2 mi east · Mbenji Island 0.4 mi south-west · Fuawe Island 1.6 mi west

Shore, third and distances are measured from the coordinates above against the lake’s mapped outline.

The water

Lake-wide measured chemistry of Lake Malawi — collection points share their lake's water; site-specific figures are shown only where the literature records them.

Temperature75.2–84.2 °F24–29 °C
pH8.2–8.6alkaline
Hardnessmoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppm
Conductivity≈250–260 µS/cmmeasured range

Nearest measured station: Salima (south-east shore) (~37 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm

This site

Habitatrockyrocky island in the Mbenji Islands group

Surface temperature here

Across Apr–Nov, monthly means run 75 °F to 82 °F — coolest in Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1320 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

73°77°81°85°Jan: too few clear satellite days (1)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (1)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (6)–MApr: 80 °F mean (78 °F–82 °F), 30 clear satellite daysAMay: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 139 clear satellite daysMJun: 77 °F mean (75 °F–78 °F), 186 clear satellite daysJJul: 75 °F mean (74 °F–76 °F), 212 clear satellite daysJAug: 75 °F mean (74 °F–76 °F), 274 clear satellite daysASep: 76 °F mean (75 °F–78 °F), 272 clear satellite daysSOct: 79 °F mean (77 °F–81 °F), 138 clear satellite daysONov: 82 °F mean (80 °F–85 °F), 57 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (4)–D
Surface temperature by month near Ababi Island — dot = mean, bar = typical range (10th–90th percentile), “–” = too cloudy to measure.

Temperature: ESA Climate Change Initiative, Lakes_cci v3.0 (Asfour et al. 2026; doi:10.5285/a56dba09df8a42ec9fba8b8c7a5e1f69). Chemistry on this page remains the lake's own.

The site

Site photographs identify Ababi as part of the Mbenji Islands group together with Kampambe, Mbenji, Penga Penga, and Fuawe Islands, placing it next to Mbenji Island and Penga Penga Island in wider views of the group.

Sources
  1. malawi.si — Ababi Island, Lake Malawi, Malawi: location page and photo gallery (captions by Ad Konings, Pete Barnes)
  2. Konings, A. (2016). Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 5th Edition. Cichlid Press, El Paso.

Each entry below is the population of that species recorded here — the form aquarists keep and breed as a distinct, provenance-labelled line. Crossing forms from different collection points is considered hybridisation in the hobby.

Chindongo (1)

Copadichromis (1)

Labidochromis (1)

Lethrinops (1)

Melanochromis (1)

Pseudotropheus (1)

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