Copadichromis borleyi "Higga Reef"Redfin
Copadichromis borleyi (Ababi Island, Bamba Rock, Boadzulu Island, Chewere, Chidunga Rocks, Chimwalani Reef, Chinyankwazi Island, Crocodile Rocks, Fuawe Island, Gome, Higga Reef, Jalo Reef, Kadango, Kande Island, Kawanga Rocks, Linganjala Reef, Londo Bay, Lupingu, Luwala Reef, Maison Reef, Makonde, Mala Point, Mara Rocks, Matambukira Rocks, Mbenji Island, Mdoka, Mphanga Rocks, Mumbo Island, Nakantenga Island, Namalenje Island, Ndumbi Point, Nkanda, Nkhata Bay, Nkhomo Reef, Nkhungu Reef, Otter Point, Taiwanee Reef, Three Peaks Reef, Thumbi West Island, Undu Reef, Usisya, Zimbawe Rock)
Higga Reef — HEE-gah 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 Copadichromis borleyi account →Specific to Higga 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 Copadichromis borleyi.
The Higga Reef population
Copadichromis borleyi "Higga Reef" is the Higga Reef population of Copadichromis borleyi, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Malawi in the northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Copadichromis borleyi, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Higga Reef fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Copadichromis borleyi is a zooplankton-feeding cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi and one of the most recognizable members of the lake's "utaka" guild — the open-water haplochromines that hover in shoals above the rocks and pick drifting copepods out of the current. Sold across the hobby as the "red fin" or "Kadango" hap, it pairs a vivid blue-faced, red- or yellow-flanked male with a flexible, suction-style feeding habit that ties it tightly to the lake's plankton. It is common, widespread, and listed as Least Concern, even as the basin it depends on comes under growing strain.
Full Copadichromis borleyi account →Sources
- malawi.si — Copadichromis borleyi "Higga Reef"
- Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Copadichromis borleyi
- FishBase — Copadichromis borleyi summary
- FishBase — Copadichromis borleyi reproduction summary
- GBIF — Copadichromis borleyi occurrences
- Iles, T.D. 1960. A group of zooplankton feeders of the genus Haplochromis (Cichlidae) in Lake Nyasa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (13)2:257–280
- IUCN Red List — Copadichromis borleyi "Higga Reef"