Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Buccochromis heterotaenia

Buccochromis heterotaenia "Masinje"

Masinje — mah-SEEN-jeh (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 Masinje

  • 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 Masinje population

Buccochromis heterotaenia "Masinje" is the Masinje population of Buccochromis heterotaenia, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the south-central 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 Masinje 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 "Masinje"
  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