Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Chindongo minutus

Chindongo minutus "Nkhata Bay"

Nkhata Bay — n-KAH-tah BAY (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 minutus account →

Specific to Nkhata Bay

  • 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 minutus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.6 in6.6 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth7–33 ft2–10 m
DietAufwuchs scraper (algal micro-pockets)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder10–25 eggs (captive reports; low-fecundity consistent with body size)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales blue-purple with dark vertical bars and dark head; females beige/pale-brown with subdued patterning. Size difference modest; females may be fractionally smaller.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkhata Bay population

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

Colour reference: living Nkhata Bay fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Chindongo minutus is the smallest of Lake Malawi's mbuna, a tribe of rock-dwelling cichlids famous for their colour and aggression. First described from Nkhata Bay in 1956 and currently valid under the genus Chindongo erected in 2016, this little fish reaches barely 6.6 cm total length yet holds its own territory among much larger species — feeding on micro-pockets of algae that its bigger neighbours cannot reach.

Full Chindongo minutus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Chindongo minutus "Nkhata Bay"
  2. FishBase — Chindongo minutus summary page
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — minutus, Pseudotropheus Fryer 1956 (species record)
  4. GBIF — Chindongo minutus (Fryer, 1956) backbone taxonomy
  5. Li, S., Konings, A.F. & Stauffer, J.R. Jr. (2016) — A revision of the Pseudotropheus elongatus species group with description of a new genus and seven new species. Zootaxa 4168(2):353–381
  6. Oliver, M.K. — Chindongo minutus (Fryer, 1956). The Cichlid Fishes of Lake Malawi, Africa (malawicichlids.com)