Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis geertsi

Copadichromis geertsi "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 geertsi 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 geertsi.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5 in12.8 cm standard length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth82–164 ft25–50 m
DietUtaka zooplanktivore
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (sand-bower lek)~30-60 eggs (utaka-typical; not documented for this species, by analogy to the open-water utaka C. chrysonotus, which averages ~49 eggs/brood per Smith 2000 & Weyl et al. 2005)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales dark blue-black with a white-yellow forehead blaze into the dorsal, very long pelvic fins and a yellow anal margin; females/juveniles silvery with two body spots. Males have only unicuspid teeth; females have bicuspid teeth in the outer lower row.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Border population

Copadichromis geertsi "Border" is the Border population of Copadichromis geertsi, 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 geertsi, 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 geertsi is a deep-water utaka — one of Lake Malawi's open-water, zooplankton-picking haplochromines — endemic to the lake's southeastern coast. Described by Ad Konings in 1999, it is one of the most striking members of its genus: breeding males turn dark blue to nearly black with a bright white-and-yellow blaze running over the forehead and into the dorsal fin, and trail very long pelvic fins. Unlike most utaka, which crowd the shallows, Copadichromis geertsi lives down in the dim intermediate zone, where males excavate crater-like spawning sites under boulders at depths rarely shallower than 25 m. In the trade it has occasionally circulated as the "Virginalis Blotch."

Full Copadichromis geertsi account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis geertsi "Border"
  2. FishBase — Copadichromis geertsi summary
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Copadichromis geertsi (species record)
  4. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae (Pseudocrenilabrinae a-g): Copadichromis geertsi etymology
  5. Konings, A. 1999. Descriptions of three new Copadichromis species (Labroidei; Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa. Tropical Fish Hobbyist 47(9):62-84
  6. Chavula, G.M.S. et al. 2023. Lake Malawi/Niassa/Nyasa basin: Status, challenges, and research needs. Journal of Great Lakes Research 49(6):102241