Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Coptodon rendalli

Coptodon rendalli "Chiofu"

Chiofu — chee-OH-foo (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 Coptodon rendalli account →

Specific to Chiofu

  • 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 Coptodon rendalli.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size17.7 in45 cm total length
Temperature68–86 °F20–30 °C
pH6.5–8.5alkaline
Depth10–26 ft3–8 m
DietMacrophyte-feeding herbivore (plants, some detritus/invertebrates)
BreedingBiparental substrate spawner (nest pit)A prolific substrate spawner — clutches of roughly several hundred to a few thousand eggs (FishBase fecundity for the genus)
Sexual dimorphismYesSexes look very similar; males usually grow larger. Breeding fish develop the bright red-orange throat and belly
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chiofu population

Coptodon rendalli "Chiofu" is the Chiofu population of Coptodon rendalli, 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 Coptodon rendalli, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Chiofu fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Coptodon rendalli, the redbreast tilapia, is a big, deep-bodied, plant-eating cichlid that ranges across much of sub-Saharan Africa and is one of the handful of true tilapiines native to Lake Malawi. Unlike the lake's famous mouthbrooding haplochromines, it is a substrate spawner that lays its eggs in an excavated pit — and in Malawi, remarkably, it digs branching tunnel systems and raises its young communally, a behavior interpreted as a defense against the lake's dense predator guild. Hardy, fast-growing, and valued as food and for weed control, it is also one of the most widely introduced fishes on the continent.

Full Coptodon rendalli account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Coptodon rendalli "Chiofu"
  2. Coptodon rendalli (Redbreast tilapia) — FishBase species summary
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Coptodon rendalli (Boulenger, 1897)
  4. Tilapia rendalli (redbreast tilapia) — USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species profile
  5. Ribbink, Marsh & Marsh (1981), Nest-building and communal care of young by Tilapia rendalli in Lake Malawi, Env. Biol. Fishes 6(2):219–222
  6. Dunz & Schliewen (2013), Molecular phylogeny and revised classification of the haplotilapiine cichlids formerly referred to as 'Tilapia', Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 68:64–80