Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Aristochromis christyi

Aristochromis christyi "Chinyamwezi Island"

Chinyamwezi Island — cheen-yahm-WEH-zee EYE-land (approx.)

The fish

How this cichlid is built, and everything about how it lives, eats and breeds, is shared with the species — this page doesn't repeat it.

Read the full Aristochromis christyi account →

Specific to Chinyamwezi Island

  • Collection locality & coordinates
  • Local coloration — best judged from the living-fish photo
  • Kept as a single-provenance line, never crossed with other collection points

Care facts below are the species' — shared with Aristochromis christyi.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size11.8 in30 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth7–33 ft2–10 m
DietPiscivore — ambush predator on smaller cichlids
BreedingMaternal (ovophilous) mouthbrooder; polygynous, no pair bondlarge for a mouthbrooder (commensurate with a ~30 cm female); exact wild fecundity not published
Sexual dimorphismYesDominant males turn powder-blue with orange-red anal-fin markings; females and subordinate males are tan-grey with two dark lines along the upper flank.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chinyamwezi Island population

Aristochromis christyi "Chinyamwezi Island" is the Chinyamwezi Island population of Aristochromis christyi, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Aristochromis christyi, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Chinyamwezi Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Aristochromis christyi, the Malawi hawk, is a large, slope-snouted predator endemic to Lake Malawi and the only species in its genus. It patrols the broken ground where sand meets rock, hunting smaller cichlids with an unhurried, almost stalking approach before a sudden lunge from its long, protrusible jaws. Reaching about 30 cm, it is one of the lake's most distinctive open-water ambush hunters — uncommon in the wild and correspondingly scarce in the hobby.

Full Aristochromis christyi account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Aristochromis christyi "Chinyamwezi Island"
  2. FishBase — Aristochromis christyi (Malawi hawk)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Aristochromis christyi (species record; Trewavas 1935; syntypes BMNH 1935.6.14.2284-2296)
  4. GBIF — Aristochromis christyi Trewavas, 1935
  5. Trewavas, E. (1935) — original description, Annals and Magazine of Natural History (10) 16: 117
  6. Oliver, M.K. — The Cichlid Fishes of Lake Malawi (malawicichlids.com): Aristochromis christyi