Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Dimidiochromis dimidiatus

Dimidiochromis dimidiatus "Senga Bay"

Senga Bay — SEHN-gah 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 Dimidiochromis dimidiatus account →

Specific to Senga 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 Dimidiochromis dimidiatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.9 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth0–10 ft0–3 m
DietInshore piscivore (small fishes + invertebrates)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygamous)undocumented for the species; congeners brood ~tens to ~200 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMales grow larger and develop muted nuptial colour (reddish anal fin with egg-spots, yellow belly, blue on the head); females and juveniles plain silvery — full male breeding dress remains barely documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Senga Bay population

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

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

About the species

Dimidiochromis dimidiatus is the smallest and most elongate of the four Dimidiochromis species endemic to Lake Malawi, a silvery, pike-like predator of shallow sandy and weed-fringed shores. It is the type species of its genus, and the rarest member of it: most aquarists know its broad-bodied relative the Malawi eyebiter (Dimidiochromis compressiceps), but dimidiatus is a slimmer, more cryptic fish that field workers seldom encounter and almost never collect alive. Its name records the single feature that defines it — a narrow dark stripe that runs the length of the flank, neatly dividing the body into upper and lower halves.

Full Dimidiochromis dimidiatus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Dimidiochromis dimidiatus "Senga Bay"
  2. FishBase — Dimidiochromis dimidiatus (Ncheni type haplochromis)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Hemichromis dimidiatus Günther 1864 (valid as Dimidiochromis dimidiatus; neotype BMNH 1921.9.6.132)
  4. GBIF — Dimidiochromis dimidiatus (Günther, 1864)
  5. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae (Pseudocrenilabrinae a–g): Dimidiochromis dimidiatus etymology
  6. Günther, A. 1864 — Report on a collection of reptiles and fishes made by Dr. Kirk in the Zambesi and Nyassa regions (original description, p. 313)