Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis quadrimaculatus

Copadichromis quadrimaculatus "Jalo Reef"

Jalo Reef — JAH-loh 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 quadrimaculatus account →

Specific to Jalo 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 quadrimaculatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.9 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth10–98 ft3–30 m
DietOpen-water utaka zooplanktivore
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygamous, lek-style)Not documented for this species; utaka-typical ~30-60 eggs (mean ~49 in the open-water congener C. chrysonotus, Smith 2000)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger, with bright nuptial colour and anal-fin egg-spots; females and juveniles plain silver.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Jalo Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Jalo Reef fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Copadichromis quadrimaculatus is the type species of Copadichromis, the largest genus of Lake Malawi's open-water plankton-feeders that Malawian fishermen call utaka. A silver, deep-bodied haplochromine reaching about 20 cm, it is named for the row of four dark blotches that runs along each flank. Like its many relatives it is a maternal mouthbrooder that hangs in great shoals over the lake's rocky coasts, straining clouds of zooplankton from the water with a small, highly protrusible mouth and a long basket of fine gill rakers. Because the genus was erected around this species, every other utaka assigned to Copadichromis is in effect measured against it.

Full Copadichromis quadrimaculatus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis quadrimaculatus "Jalo Reef"
  2. FishBase — Copadichromis quadrimaculatus (Regan, 1922)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Copadichromis quadrimaculatus (species record)
  4. Cichlid Room Companion — Copadichromis quadrimaculatus (original description, taxonomy)
  5. Cichlid Room Companion — Copadichromis genus profile (utaka, plankton-feeders)
  6. malawi.si (Stuart Grant / M.K. Oliver) — Copadichromis quadrimaculatus 'Tsano Rock' (distribution, size)