Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis sp. "Maison"

Copadichromis sp. "Maison" "Maison Reef"

Copadichromis sp. "Maison" (Maison Reef)

Maison Reef — mah-EE-sohn 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 sp. "Maison" account →

Specific to Maison 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 sp. "Maison".

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesCopadichromis quadrimaculatusdescribed as Haplochromis quadrimaculatus Regan 1922
Scientific size5 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth26–82 ft8–25 m
DietOpen-water zooplanktivore (utaka)
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this population; utaka-typical, likely a few dozen eggs per brood
Sexual dimorphismYesNot documented for this form; genus-typical utaka dichromatism is expected, in which dominant males develop stronger colour for breeding while females remain plain and silvery.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Maison Reef population

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

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

About the species

Copadichromis sp. "Maison" is an undescribed utaka documented from Maison Reef, a heavily surveyed reef in the far north of Lake Malawi’s western shore. It has no formal scientific name. The trade name is a plain locality tag rather than a borrowed species epithet or colour description — one of many such Copadichromis forms named simply for where they were collected, on a reef already well known for harbouring distinct locality populations of several other genera.

Full Copadichromis sp. "Maison" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis sp. "Maison" "Maison Reef"
  2. malawi.si — Copadichromis species and locality-form database (Konings-based; distribution, biotope)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Copadichromis genus overview (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority)
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