Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Chilotilapia rhoadesii

Chilotilapia rhoadesii "Boadzulu Island"

Chilotilapia rhoadesii (Boadzulu Island, Chembe Beach)

Boadzulu Island — boh-ah-DZOO-loo 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 Chilotilapia rhoadesii account →

Specific to Boadzulu 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 Chilotilapia rhoadesii.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesChilotilapia rhoadesiiBoulenger 1908 · this species
Scientific size9 in22.5 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth16–328 ft5–100 m
DietSpecialized molluscivore (snail-crusher)
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodernot specifically documented; genus-size Malawi haplochromines typically carry a few dozen to ~100 large eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males turn bright blue and grow larger (to ~30 cm); usually only one male per school is in full colour, while females stay silvery-tan.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Boadzulu Island population

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

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

About the species

Chilotilapia rhoadesii is the lone species of its genus, a thick-lipped haplochromine endemic to Lake Malawi that has built its whole life around eating snails. Cruising the lake's muddy floors in schools that can top a hundred fish, it hunts down mollusks of the genera Melanoides and Lanistes and crushes their shells with massively reinforced jaws and pharyngeal mills. It is one of the very few Malawi cichlids to take molluscivory to such a specialized extreme — and a textbook case of how easily a shared species epithet can tangle a fish's identity, since a second, unrelated Boulenger fish carries the same name 'rhoadesii'.

Full Chilotilapia rhoadesii account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Chilotilapia rhoadesii "Boadzulu Island"
  2. FishBase — Chilotilapia rhoadesii (Bream)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Chilotilapia rhoadesii (species record, valid)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — genus Chilotilapia Boulenger 1908 (valid, monotypic)
  5. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Paratilapia rhoadesii (homonym; now Buccochromis rhoadesii)
  6. GBIF — Chilotilapia rhoadesii Boulenger, 1908 (accepted, key 2370852)
  7. IUCN Red List — Chilotilapia rhoadesii "Boadzulu Island"
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