Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cynotilapia aurifrons

Cynotilapia aurifrons "Matambukira Rocks"

Matambukira Rocks — mah-tahm-boo-KEE-rah ROKS (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 Matambukira Rocks

  • 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
Scientific size4 in10 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
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 Matambukira Rocks population

Cynotilapia aurifrons "Matambukira Rocks" is the Matambukira Rocks population of Cynotilapia aurifrons, 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 Cynotilapia aurifrons, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Matambukira Rocks 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 "Matambukira Rocks"
  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)