Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis quadrimaculatus

Copadichromis quadrimaculatus "Tsano Rock"

Tsano Rock — TSAH-noh 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 quadrimaculatus account →

Specific to Tsano 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 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 Tsano Rock population

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

Colour reference: living Tsano Rock 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 "Tsano Rock"
  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)