Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cynotilapia sp. "Chinyankwazi"

Cynotilapia sp. "Chinyankwazi" "Chinyamwezi Island"

Chinyamwezi Island — cheen-yahm-WEH-zee EYE-land (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 sp. "Chinyankwazi" account →

Specific to Chinyamwezi Island

  • 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 sp. "Chinyankwazi".

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.7 in12 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth10–131 ft3–40 m
DietOmnivore: non-territorial individuals feed mainly on zooplankton and phytoplankton in open water above the rocks; territorial males additionally graze aufwuchs from rock surfaces (Konings / malawi.si). [HABITAT-TYPICAL — no species-specific dietary study published]
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder; male defends rocky cave territory and spawns inside itSmall, consistent with genus and body size; exact count unpublished for this form
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong. Males vivid sky-blue to electric blue with bold dark vertical bars and a pale dorsal margin; females plain silvery-grey to brownish. Dominant older females may develop a pale blue wash but never approach male intensity.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chinyamwezi Island population

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

Colour reference: living Chinyamwezi Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Cynotilapia sp. "Chinyankwazi" is a small rock-dwelling mbuna endemic to Chinyankwazi Island and the neighbouring Chinyamwezi Island in the south-eastern arm of Lake Malawi. Among the conical-toothed Cynotilapia it stands out for being unusually large — males reach 11–12 cm — and for the intensity of its blue-black barring, which keepers consistently describe as one of the most striking colour patterns the genus produces. It remains scientifically undescribed despite decades in the hobby, recognised by Konings and documented on malawi.si under the provisional open-nomenclature designation Cynotilapia sp. 'chinyankwazi'.

Full Cynotilapia sp. "Chinyankwazi" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Cynotilapia sp. "Chinyankwazi" "Chinyamwezi Island"
  2. Ribbink, A.J., Marsh, B.A., Ribbink, A.C. & Sharp, B.J. 1983 — A preliminary survey of the cichlid fishes of rocky habitats in Lake Malawi (S. Afr. J. Zool. 18(3):149–310)
  3. Kassam, D.D., Sato, T., Yamaoka, K. & Ambali, A.J.D. 2005 — Genetic diversity within Cynotilapia and its phylogenetic position among Lake Malawi's mbuna cichlids (African Journal of Biotechnology 4(9):932–940)
  4. Stauffer, J.R. Jr. & Kellogg, K.A. 2002 — Description of a new species in the Pseudotropheus williamsi complex (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa (Copeia 2002(1):146–151) [NOTE: this paper describes Pseudotropheus galanos — the attribution of this authority to C. sp. 'chinyankwazi' in trade contexts is erroneous]
  5. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cynotilapia: no entry for chinyankwazi (confirmed undescribed as of June 2026)
  6. FishBase — Cynotilapia afra species page (genus context and general Cynotilapia biology)