Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis cyanocephalus

Copadichromis cyanocephalus "Chiloelo"

Chiloelo — chee-loh-EH-loh (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 cyanocephalus account →

Specific to Chiloelo

  • 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 cyanocephalus.

IUCNNEAR THREATENED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth49–72 ft15–22 m
DietOpen-water zooplankton-feeder (utaka)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder; male defends a bower on the rocky-sandy slopenot well documented; likely a few dozen eggs, as in comparable small Copadichromis
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males turn deep blue over the head and breast; females and non-breeding fish are plain silvery and countershaded.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chiloelo population

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

Colour reference: living Chiloelo fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Copadichromis cyanocephalus is a small, open-water utaka cichlid of Lake Malawi, described in 2006 from the lake's eastern shore in Mozambican waters between Meponda and the Lumessi River. Like its many relatives in the genus, it is a silvery zooplankton-feeder of the rocky and intermediate zones, but the breeding male earns the species its name by flushing an intense blue across the head and breast as he tends a bower on the slope below.

Full Copadichromis cyanocephalus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis cyanocephalus "Chiloelo"
  2. FishBase — Copadichromis cyanocephalus (Stauffer & Konings, 2006)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Copadichromis cyanocephalus (holotype PSU 3639; type locality Charley's Bay)
  4. GBIF — Copadichromis cyanocephalus (Stauffer & Konings, 2006)
  5. Stauffer, J.R. & Konings, A. (2006) — Review of Copadichromis (Teleostei: Cichlidae) with the description of a new genus and six new species (Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 17(1): 9-42)
  6. Stauffer & Konings (2006) — Review of Copadichromis (ResearchGate, public abstract)