Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Buccochromis heterotaenia

Buccochromis heterotaenia "Luwala Reef"

Luwala Reef — loo-WAH-lah REEF (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 Buccochromis heterotaenia account →

Specific to Luwala Reef

  • 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 Buccochromis heterotaenia.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size15.7 in40 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth98–262 ft30–80 m
DietRoving piscivore (small fish over sand)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderCan exceed 500 eggs (large for a Malawi cichlid; genus-typical for this size)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales develop a metallic blue head and body with yellow-to-orange fins; females and subadults are subdued brown-gray and retain the namesake oblique stripe and vertical barring.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Luwala Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Luwala Reef fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Buccochromis heterotaenia is one of Lake Malawi's largest and most heavily built piscivorous cichlids, a deep-bodied predator that cruises rocky and intermediate habitat across the whole lake hunting smaller fish. Reaching around 16 in (40 cm), males color up into a blue-headed, yellow-finned bruiser, while the namesake oblique flank stripe persists on subadults and females. It is a maternal mouthbrooder that produces unusually large spawns and is listed by the IUCN as Least Concern, even as the lake around it faces mounting pressure.

Full Buccochromis heterotaenia account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Buccochromis heterotaenia "Luwala Reef"
  2. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Haplochromis heterotaenia / valid as Buccochromis heterotaenia
  3. FishBase — Buccochromis heterotaenia summary
  4. iNaturalist — Buccochromis heterotaenia taxon page
  5. Trewavas, E. (1935). A Synopsis of the Cichlid Fishes of Lake Nyasa. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 16(91):65-118