Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cynotilapia axelrodi

Cynotilapia axelrodi "Nkhata Bay"

Nkhata Bay — n-KAH-tah BAY (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 axelrodi account →

Specific to Nkhata Bay

  • 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 axelrodi.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3 in7.7 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth7–33 ft2–10 m
DietOpen-water planktivore / opportunistic omnivore
BreedingMaternal (ovophile) mouthbrooder; male digs a saucer-shaped pitsmall clutch (~10-30 eggs, genus-typical for a fish this size; wild fecundity not published)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger and intense sky-blue with anal egg-spots; females smaller and greyish with a yellowish (later pale-blue) caudal fin.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkhata Bay population

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

Colour reference: living Nkhata Bay fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Cynotilapia axelrodi is a small, sky-blue mbuna restricted to a short stretch of Lake Malawi's northwestern shore around Nkhata Bay. It belongs to the dog-tooth cichlids — the genus name means just that — and unlike most rock-grazing mbuna it makes its living out in open water, hanging in schools a metre or two above the sand to pick plankton from the current. Long sold under the trade name 'Pseudotropheus kingsizei', it is one of the gentler, more manageable mbuna a keeper can put in a tank.

Full Cynotilapia axelrodi account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Cynotilapia axelrodi "Nkhata Bay"
  2. FishBase — Cynotilapia axelrodi (Burgess, 1976)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cynotilapia axelrodi (species record)
  4. GBIF — Cynotilapia axelrodi Burgess, 1976 (accepted; usageKey 2372862)
  5. Burgess, W.E. 1976 — 'Studies on the family Cichlidae: 7. Cynotilapia axelrodi, a new species of mbuna from Lake Malawi (Pisces: Cichlidae).' Tropical Fish Hobbyist 25(2): 37-44 (Plazi TreatmentBank record)
  6. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae (Pseudocrenilabrinae): Cynotilapia / axelrodi etymology