Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Ctenopharynx intermedius

Ctenopharynx intermedius "Makokola Reef"

Makokola Reef — mah-koh-KOH-lah 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 Ctenopharynx intermedius account →

Specific to Makokola 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 Ctenopharynx intermedius.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size8.3 in21 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth10–197 ft3–60 m
DietNear-bottom planktivore and invertivore; feeds on copepods, cladocerans, and small invertebrates just above sandy substrate
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~20–60 eggs (genus-typical; not published for this species)
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong: breeding males uniformly powder blue, lacking conspicuous lateral spots, and significantly larger (to ~22 cm); females smaller (~16 cm) and less intensely coloured.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Makokola Reef population

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

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

About the species

Ctenopharynx intermedius is a deep-bodied, sand-dwelling haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, one of only three species in the genus and the one Albert Günther first put a name to back in 1864. It makes its living over the lake's intermediate and sandy-bottom zones, hovering low and filtering mouthfuls of fine sediment through a conspicuously dense comb of gill rakers to strain out copepods and small crustaceans. Males in breeding condition turn a clean powder blue and have been photographed at depth far below the mbuna's rocky comfort zone — yet territorial males have never been observed in the wild, making this fish one of Lake Malawi's quietly intriguing open questions.

Full Ctenopharynx intermedius account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Ctenopharynx intermedius "Makokola Reef"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Hemichromis intermedius / Ctenopharynx intermedius (holotype BMNH 1864.1.9.60; type locality Lake Malawi)
  3. FishBase — Ctenopharynx intermedius summary (size, depth, ecology, IUCN, diagnosis)
  4. GBIF — Ctenopharynx intermedius (Günther, 1864), taxon key 2372505
  5. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae (Pseudocrenilabrinae a–g): Ctenopharynx and C. intermedius etymology (v. 11.0, April 2026)
  6. malawi.si — Ctenopharynx intermedius 'Makokola Reef' (Konings field data: biotope, distribution, size, breeding, diet)