Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Chindongo flavus

Chindongo flavus "Chinyankwazi Island"

Chinyankwazi Island — cheen-yahn-KWAH-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 Chindongo flavus account →

Specific to Chinyankwazi 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 Chindongo flavus.

IUCNNEAR THREATENED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3 in7.6 cm standard length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.4–8.4alkaline
Depth23–66 ft7–20 m
DietPlanktivore and aufwuchs scraper
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderNot published; genus-typical ~10–30 fry per brood
Sexual dimorphismYesMales are vivid lemon-to-sulphur yellow dorsally with blue-grey undersides; females and subordinate males are drab olive-brown with diffuse bars, retaining juvenile coloration.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chinyankwazi Island population

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

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

About the species

Chindongo flavus is a small, brilliant yellow mbuna found at a single rocky island in southern Lake Malawi — a range so restricted that the entire wild population fits within four square kilometres of shoreline. Males acquire a vivid lemon-to-sulphur coloration that makes them unmistakable among the lake's rock-dwellers, and they defend cave territories with an intensity matched by few cichlids of their size. Their hyper-narrow range and declining abundance have earned them Near Threatened status, making every healthy population at Chinyankwazi Island ecologically significant.

Full Chindongo flavus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Chindongo flavus "Chinyankwazi Island"
  2. Stauffer, J.R. Jr. — Three new rock-dwelling cichlids (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa (Copeia 1988, no. 3: 663–668)
  3. Li, S., Konings, A.F. & Stauffer, J.R. Jr. — A revision of the Pseudotropheus elongatus species group with description of a new genus and seven new species (Zootaxa 4168(2): 353–381, 2016)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Chindongo flavus (Stauffer 1988) species record
  5. FishBase — Chindongo flavus summary page
  6. GBIF — Chindongo flavus occurrence download