Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba"

Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba" "Chilumba"

Chilumba — chee-LOOM-bah (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 Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba" account →

Specific to Chilumba

  • 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 Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba".

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.1 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth26–82 ft8–25 m
DietSand-sifting micro-invertivore via ampullary lateral-line pores
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest (a few dozen eggs)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales deep saturated blue with darker barring, coloured year-round; females and subordinate males silvery-brown and cryptic.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chilumba population

Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba" "Chilumba" is the Chilumba population of Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the far northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Chilumba fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba" is an undescribed peacock cichlid from the northern reaches of Lake Malawi — a fish recognised in the hobby and field literature but never given a formal scientific name. It takes its informal label from its locality, the rocky coast around Chilumba in the far north of the lake, and from the deep, saturated blue worn by its breeding males. Like all peacocks it belongs to the lake's radiation of sand-sifting sensory hunters — fish that hover over open sand and listen, through enlarged pits on the head, for invertebrates buried below. It is recognised informally, principally through Ad Konings's work, and is one of many locality colour forms in the broad stuartgranti assemblage. No authority, year, FishBase number, or Red List status should ever be attached to it.

Full Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Aulonocara sp. "Blue Chilumba" "Chilumba"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — Aulonocara genus and undescribed forms (Ad Konings, curator)
  3. malawicichlids.com — Aulonocara stuartgranti complex and northern-lake peacock forms (M.K. Oliver)
  4. malawi.si — Aulonocara species database (Konings-based; biotope, distribution, diet, breeding)
  5. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi authority)
  6. Practical Fishkeeping — "Cichlids with a sixth sense" by Ad Konings (sensory feeding in Aulonocara)