Cynotilapia sp. "Lion" "Mara Rocks"
Mara Rocks — MAH-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 sp. "Lion" account →Specific to Mara 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 sp. "Lion".
The Mara Rocks population
Cynotilapia sp. "Lion" "Mara Rocks" is the Mara Rocks population of Cynotilapia sp. "Lion", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Cynotilapia sp. "Lion", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Mara Rocks fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Cynotilapia sp. "Lion" is an undescribed mbuna recorded from a handful of localities on both the Tanzanian and Malawian shores of Lake Malawi, including Lion's Cove, a well-known collection point that most plausibly gives the form its trade name. Cynotilapia is a genus of small, slender mbuna that departs from the typical algae-grazing mbuna diet by feeding mainly on plankton in midwater, an unusual niche for a rock-associated cichlid. It has never been formally described, so no authority, publication year, FishBase number, or IUCN status should be attached to it.
Full Cynotilapia sp. "Lion" account →