Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis atripinnis

Copadichromis atripinnis "Border"

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 Copadichromis atripinnis account →

Specific to Border

  • 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 Copadichromis atripinnis.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.1 in10.3 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth33–98 ft10–30 m
DietOpen-water zooplankton picker
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder; bower-building lek spawnerA few dozen eggs (genus-typical for utaka of this size; not documented for the species)
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males pale powder-blue with jet-black, white-edged pelvic fins, a yellow-rimmed egg-spotted anal fin and broad black caudal bands; females and non-breeding fish plain silvery with three dark flank blotches.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Border population

Copadichromis atripinnis "Border" is the Border population of Copadichromis atripinnis, 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 Copadichromis atripinnis, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Border fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Copadichromis atripinnis is a midwater, plankton-feeding cichlid endemic to the southern reaches of Lake Malawi, where it patrols the sand-and-rock transition zone in loose foraging schools. It belongs to the lake's diverse "utaka" guild, but earns its name — Latin for "black fin" — from the breeding male's inky pelvic and anal fins and the bold black bars framing his tail. Described only in 2002, it is best known to aquarists as the "three spot eastern," a reference to the three dark blotches that mark its silver flanks.

Full Copadichromis atripinnis account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis atripinnis "Border"
  2. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer, CAS) — Copadichromis atripinnis (species record)
  3. FishBase — Copadichromis atripinnis summary
  4. GBIF — Copadichromis atripinnis Stauffer & Sato, 2002 (taxon 2373867)
  5. Stauffer, J.R. Jr. & Sato, T. 2002. A new species of Copadichromis (Cichlidae) from Thumbi West Island, Lake Malawi. Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 13(1):91–95 (full PDF)
  6. Abstract of Stauffer & Sato (2002) — original species description