Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Malawi · Tanzania

Matema

mah-TEH-mah (approx.)

The atlas records 8 collection-point forms from Matema, across 7 genera.

9.4941°S 34.0268°E

Matema is a beach on Lake Malawi's Tanzanian shore, about 3 km north-north-west of Wissman Bay.

Where it is

Matema is at the northern end of Lake Malawi.

Nearest collection points: Wissman Bay 1.7 mi south · Ikombe 3.5 mi south-east · Nkanda 5.7 mi south-east

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) (~475 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm

This site

Habitatsandysandy beach near Wissman Bay

Surface temperature here

Across May–Dec, monthly means run 77 °F to 84 °F — coolest in Aug. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1044 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

75°78°81°84°Jan: too few clear satellite days (1)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (5)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (5)–MApr: too few clear satellite days (8)–AMay: 81 °F mean (80 °F–82 °F), 47 clear satellite daysMJun: 79 °F mean (78 °F–80 °F), 121 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 167 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 225 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (77 °F–79 °F), 232 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–82 °F), 153 clear satellite daysONov: 83 °F mean (81 °F–84 °F), 63 clear satellite daysNDec: 84 °F mean (83 °F–85 °F), 17 clear satellite daysD
Surface temperature by month near Matema — 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 are captioned "Matema (West)" and "Matema Beach."

Sources
  1. malawi.si — Matema, Lake Malawi, Tanzania: location page and photo gallery (captions by Ad Konings, Mark Thomas)

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.

Cheilochromis (1)

Cynotilapia (1)

Lethrinops (1)

Otopharynx (1)

Placidochromis (2)

Protomelas (1)

Tyrannochromis (1)

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