Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cynotilapia aurifrons

Cynotilapia aurifrons "Lions Cove"Gold-forehead dogtooth cichlid

Cynotilapia aurifrons (Chewere, Chilumba, Chitande Island, Kakusa, Kawanga, Lions Cove, Lundu, Lushununu, Luwino Reef, Matambukira Rocks, Mdowa, Mphanga Rocks, Nkhata Bay)

Lions Cove — LY-uhnz KOHV (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 Cynotilapia aurifrons account →

Specific to Lions Cove

  • 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 Cynotilapia aurifrons.

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesCynotilapia afradescribed as Hemichromis afer Günther 1894
Scientific size4 in10 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 446 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth10–82 ft3–25 m
DietPlanktivore (phytoplankton, diatoms, zooplankton picked from open water); territorial males supplement with aufwuchs grazed from rocks
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this species; expected modest (a dozen to a few dozen eggs) by comparison with congeners
Sexual dimorphismYesMales show a distinctive golden forehead patch against blue-to-black barred body colour; females and subordinate males are plainer silvery-brown without the gold crown.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lions Cove population

Cynotilapia aurifrons "Lions Cove" is the Lions Cove population of Cynotilapia aurifrons, a geographic colour form from Lake Malawi in Lake Malawi part of the lake. It is the same species as Cynotilapia aurifrons, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Lions Cove fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Cynotilapia aurifrons is a small, midwater-feeding mbuna described by Patrick Tawil in 2011 as part of a broader re-examination of the tangled Cynotilapia afra species complex. Its name, from the Latin for gold and forehead, marks the diagnostic feature that separates it from its confusingly similar relatives — a golden blaze across the crown of breeding males. Like the rest of its genus, it belongs to a small, unusual clade of mbuna that abandon algae-scraping in favour of picking plankton from open water, using dog-like unicuspid teeth rather than the close-packed combs of typical rock-grazers.

Full Cynotilapia aurifrons account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Cynotilapia aurifrons "Lions Cove"
  2. Tawil, P. 2011 — Description of a new cichlid species from Lake Malawi, with reexamination of Cynotilapia afra (Günther, 1893) and Microchromis zebroides (Johnson, 1975) (Cybium 35(3):201-211)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cynotilapia aurifrons (species record; authority for valid names)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost field authority on Lake Malawi mbuna)
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