Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Malawi · Malawi

Mbako Bay

m-BAH-koh BAY (approx.)

The atlas records 1 collection-point form from Mbako Bay.

12.0431°S 34.7509°E

Mbako (Mainya) Bay is a bay on Likoma Island, under 1 km south-east of Mbako Point.

Where it is

Mbako Bay is in open water about 5 mi off the eastern shore, in the central third of Lake Malawi (178 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Mbako Point 0.4 mi north-west · Maingano Island 0.7 mi south-east · Yofu Bay 0.8 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) (~194 km) — Conductivity 235 µS/cm

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 (1256 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), 107 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–79 °F), 161 clear satellite daysJJul: 76 °F mean (76 °F–77 °F), 218 clear satellite daysJAug: 76 °F mean (75 °F–77 °F), 264 clear satellite daysASep: 77 °F mean (76 °F–79 °F), 246 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 169 clear satellite daysONov: 82 °F mean (80 °F–84 °F), 65 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (5)–D
Surface temperature by month near Mbako 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

A site photograph places Yofu Bay on one side of Mbako Point and Mbako Bay, also known as Mainya Bay, on the other. Likoma is a Malawian island inside Mozambican waters.

Sources
  1. malawi.si — Mbako (Mainya) Bay, Likoma Island, Lake Malawi, Malawi: location page and photo gallery (captions by Ad Konings, Stefan Schmid)
  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.

Labidochromis (1)

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