Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Malawi · Malawi

Mbako Point

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

12.0381°S 34.7472°E

Mbako Point is a point on Likoma Island, under 1 km north-west of Mbako (Mainya) Bay.

Where it is

Mbako Point is in open water about 5 mi off the eastern shore, in the central third of Lake Malawi (177 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Mbako Bay 0.4 mi south-east · Yofu Bay 0.6 mi south-west · Maingano Island 1.1 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) (~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), 106 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–79 °F), 161 clear satellite daysJJul: 76 °F mean (76 °F–77 °F), 220 clear satellite daysJAug: 76 °F mean (75 °F–77 °F), 264 clear satellite daysASep: 77 °F mean (76 °F–79 °F), 244 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–82 °F), 169 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 Mbako Point — 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 the point and Mbako Bay, also known as Mainya Bay, on the other.

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

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.

Lethrinops (1)

← All collection points