Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis cyaneus

Copadichromis cyaneus "Zimbawe Rock"

Copadichromis cyaneus (Jumbo Island, Mitande Reef (Rocks), Mumbo Island, Namalenje Island, Ndomo Point, Zimbawe Rock)

Zimbawe Rock — zim-BAH-way ROK (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 cyaneus account →

Specific to Zimbawe Rock

  • 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 cyaneus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesCopadichromis quadrimaculatusdescribed as Haplochromis quadrimaculatus Regan 1922
Scientific size7.5 in19 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 179 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth0–98 ft0–30 m
DietOpen-water zooplankton picker
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderNot documented; genus-typical (a few dozen eggs)
Sexual dimorphismYesStrongly dichromatic: breeding males intense metallic blue with a light-blue head blaze and a narrow orange-yellow margin on the anal fin; females, juveniles and subordinate males plain silvery-grey
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Zimbawe Rock population

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

Colour reference: living Zimbawe Rock fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Copadichromis cyaneus is a zooplankton-eating cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, one of the lake's many "utaka" — the shoaling, open-water haplochromines that hover above the rocks picking drifting copepods from the current. Its name simply means "blue," for the electric cobalt that floods a dominant male, and most hobbyists know it by a single collecting locality, the Zimbabwe Rock form near Likoma Island. It is widespread and listed as Least Concern, yet it lives in exactly the guild that subsistence netting targets, in a lake under mounting strain.

Full Copadichromis cyaneus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis cyaneus "Zimbawe Rock"
  2. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Copadichromis cyaneus
  3. FishBase — Copadichromis cyaneus summary
  4. FishBase — Copadichromis cyaneus field guide
  5. GBIF — Copadichromis cyaneus occurrences
  6. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae (Pseudocrenilabrinae) etymology, Copadichromis cyaneus
  7. IUCN Red List — Copadichromis cyaneus "Zimbawe Rock"
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