Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis sp. "Three Peaks"

Copadichromis sp. "Three Peaks" "Three Peaks Reef"

Three Peaks Reef — THREE PEEKS 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. "Three Peaks" account →

Specific to Three Peaks 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. "Three Peaks".

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 for this population. Breeding males across the genus develop saturated colour while females and non-breeders remain plain silvery; no specific pattern published for the Three Peaks form.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Three Peaks Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Three Peaks Reef fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Copadichromis sp. "Three Peaks" is an undescribed Copadichromis population recorded at Three Peaks Reef, an offshore rock formation in southern Lake Malawi that is a documented collection point for several distinct cichlid species and colour forms. Like most localised Copadichromis trade names, it is known chiefly by its collection site rather than through any dedicated taxonomic study, and its relationship to described members of the genus has not been formally examined.

Full Copadichromis sp. "Three Peaks" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis sp. "Three Peaks" "Three Peaks Reef"
  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]