Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cyrtocara moorii

Cyrtocara moorii "Malopa"

Malopa — mah-LOH-pah (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 Cyrtocara moorii account →

Specific to Malopa

  • 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 Cyrtocara moorii.

IUCNVULNERABLE · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size9.1 in23 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth10–49 ft3–15 m
DietFollows large sand-sifting cichlids (e.g. Taeniolethrinops, Lethrinops) to take benthic invertebrates disturbed from the sand
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder; eggs fertilized on the open sand, then collected and brooded by the femaleScales with female size — roughly a dozen to several dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak — both sexes are blue and both develop the nuchal hump; large dominant males tend to be larger with the most pronounced hump, so sexing usually relies on venting.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Malopa population

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

Colour reference: living Malopa fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Cyrtocara moorii, the hump-head or Malawi blue dolphin, is a sky-blue, sand-dwelling cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi and the adjoining Lake Malombe. It is the sole species in its genus, instantly recognizable by the fatty forehead bump that gives mature fish a cetacean profile. Its most remarkable trick is ecological theft of a sort: in the wild it shadows larger sand-sifting cichlids, snatching invertebrates from the clouds of detritus they kick up, then defends that living food source as if it were territory.

Full Cyrtocara moorii account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Cyrtocara moorii "Malopa"
  2. FishBase: Cyrtocara moorii (Hump-head)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (California Academy of Sciences)
  4. GBIF point/occurrence data for Cyrtocara moorii (via FishBase map)
  5. Konings, A. — Cichlids Yearbook vol. 1 (Cichlid Press): blue sand-dwellers of Lake Malawi (commensal feeding, open-sand spawning & mouthbrooding of Cyrtocara moorii)
  6. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press) / malawicichlids.com