Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Brown"

Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Brown" "Chimwalani Reef"

Chimwalani Reef — cheem-wah-LAH-nee 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 Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Brown" account →

Specific to Chimwalani 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 Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Brown".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth10–59 ft3–18 m
DietAlgae/Aufwuchs grazer specialised for narrow rock crevices
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest given smaller body size
Sexual dimorphismYesBoth sexes plain brown/olive with faint barring; males intensify colour when displaying or sparring.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chimwalani Reef population

Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Brown" "Chimwalani Reef" is the Chimwalani Reef population of Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Brown", 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 sp. "Elongatus Brown", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

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

About the species

Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Brown" is an undescribed mbuna cichlid from the southern part of Lake Malawi, recorded at Chimwalani Reef and Luwala Reef. It has no formal scientific name. The trade tag places it in the elongatus complex — a group of slender-bodied Chindongo specialised for feeding within narrow rock crevices — and flags its coloration as plain brown rather than the more strikingly patterned "ornatus" forms found elsewhere in the same complex. It belongs to Chindongo, the genus of small rock-dwelling mbuna that Ad Konings split from Pseudotropheus in 2016, and it is one of several closely related elongatus-type locality forms still awaiting formal description.

Full Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Brown" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Brown" "Chimwalani Reef"
  2. malawi.si — Chindongo species and locality-form database (Konings-based; distribution, biotope)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Chindongo genus and mbuna taxonomy (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority)