Ctenopharynx nitidus "Mdowa"
Ctenopharynx nitidus (Liuli, Liwani, Malopa, Mdowa)
Mdowa — m-DOH-wah (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 Mdowa
- 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 Mdowa population
Ctenopharynx nitidus "Mdowa" is the Mdowa population of Ctenopharynx nitidus, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the far northern 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 Mdowa 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 →