Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Malawi · Malawi

Madimba Bay

mah-DEEM-bah BAY (approx.)

The atlas records 4 collection-point forms from Madimba Bay, across 4 genera.

12.0575°S 34.7485°E

Madimba Bay is a bay on Likoma Island in Lake Malawi's Malawian waters, under 1 km west-north-west of Membe Point.

Where it is

Madimba Bay is in open water about 4.3 mi off the eastern shore, in the central third of Lake Malawi (178 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Membe Point 0.2 mi east · Mbamba Islands 0.7 mi south · Mbako Bay 1 mi north

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) (~192 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm

This site

Habitatintermediatebay on Likoma Island; site photos show rocks within it

Surface temperature here

Across Apr–Nov, monthly means run 76 °F to 82 °F — coolest in Aug. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1255 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

74°77°80°83°Jan: too few clear satellite days (0)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (1)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (2)–MApr: 82 °F mean (80 °F–83 °F), 18 clear satellite daysAMay: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 105 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–79 °F), 163 clear satellite daysJJul: 76 °F mean (76 °F–77 °F), 218 clear satellite daysJAug: 76 °F mean (75 °F–77 °F), 262 clear satellite daysASep: 77 °F mean (76 °F–79 °F), 245 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 170 clear satellite daysONov: 82 °F mean (80 °F–84 °F), 66 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (5)–D
Surface temperature by month near Madimba Bay — 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 describe Membe Point at the bay's north-east entrance, and show rocks within Madimba Bay.

Sources
  1. malawi.si — Madimba Bay, Likoma Island, Lake Malawi, Malawi: location page and photo gallery (captions by Ad Konings, Pete Barnes)

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.

Aulonocara (1)

Copadichromis (1)

Labeotropheus (1)

Otopharynx (1)

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