Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis sp. "Pictus Maleri"

Copadichromis sp. "Pictus Maleri" "Nakantenga Island"

Nakantenga Island — nah-kahn-TEHN-gah EYE-land (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. "Pictus Maleri" account →

Specific to Nakantenga Island

  • 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. "Pictus Maleri".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6 in15 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth10–98 ft3–30 m
DietPresumed open-water zooplanktivore, picking copepods, cladocerans and similar small invertebrates from the water column with a small protrusible mouth, per genus pattern; no population-specific dietary study has been published.
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder (polygamous, lek-style)not documented for this form; utaka-typical ~30–60 eggs (mean ~49 in the open-water congener C. chrysonotus, Smith 2000)
Sexual dimorphismYesNot documented in detail. The trade name 'pictus' implies a boldly patterned breeding male, per genus convention; females and non-breeders presumed plain silvery, per genus pattern.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nakantenga Island population

Copadichromis sp. "Pictus Maleri" "Nakantenga Island" is the Nakantenga Island population of Copadichromis sp. "Pictus Maleri", 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 sp. "Pictus Maleri", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Nakantenga Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Copadichromis sp. "Pictus Maleri" is an undescribed Copadichromis population recorded at Nakantenga Island in the southern part of Lake Malawi, an island cluster near the Maleri group that has produced several documented colour forms across the genus. The trade name's first word, from the Latin pictus ("painted"), points to a boldly patterned breeding male, but no formal description or dedicated field account of this specific population has been published, and its precise relationship to other named Copadichromis is not established.

Full Copadichromis sp. "Pictus Maleri" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis sp. "Pictus Maleri" "Nakantenga Island"
  2. malawi.si — Copadichromis (Konings-based species database; Malawi genus overview)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Copadichromis genus profile (utaka, plankton-feeders)
  4. Smith, L.W. 2000. The reproductive biology of an open-water spawning Lake Malawi cichlid, Copadichromis chrysonotus. African Zoology 35(2): 151-164 [mean fecundity ~49 eggs in an open-water utaka]