Ctenopharynx nitidus "Liwani"
Ctenopharynx nitidus (Liuli, Liwani, Malopa, Mdowa)
Liwani — lee-WAH-nee (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 nitidus account →Specific to Liwani
- 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 nitidus.
The Liwani population
Ctenopharynx nitidus "Liwani" is the Liwani population of Ctenopharynx nitidus, 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 Ctenopharynx nitidus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Liwani fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Ctenopharynx nitidus is a sand-associated cichlid from Lake Malawi, a member of the genus Ctenopharynx — the "comb pharynx" haplochromines named for a distinctive tooth structure at the back of the throat used to process hard-shelled prey. Its species name, Latin for "shining" or "bright," points to a glossy sheen in its colouring, a subtler kind of ornamentation than the bold barring of the rock-dwelling mbuna it lives alongside over open sand and mixed sand-mud bottoms.
Full Ctenopharynx nitidus account →