Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Diplotaxodon argenteus

Diplotaxodon argenteus "Cape Maclear"

Diplotaxodon argenteus (Cape Maclear, Narungu)

Cape Maclear — kayp muh-KLEER (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 Diplotaxodon argenteus account →

Specific to Cape Maclear

  • 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 Diplotaxodon argenteus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2019
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesDiplotaxodon argenteusTrewavas 1935 · this species
Scientific size8 in20.4 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth112–410 ft34–125 m
DietPelagic piscivore
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder25–53 eggs (each averaging ~70 mg)
Sexual dimorphismYesBoth sexes silvery outside breeding; ripe males darken dramatically with a sooty head, dorsum, snout and fins (paired and unpaired) and one or two yellow egg-spots on the anal fin, while females remain silvery.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Cape Maclear population

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

Colour reference: living Cape Maclear fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Diplotaxodon argenteus is a silvery, open-water cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi and the name-bearing type species of its genus. Unlike the jewel-colored rock-dwellers most people picture when they hear "Malawi cichlid," it lives out in the dim offshore deep, hunting the lake's sardine in shoals that can darken a trawl net. It is one of the deepest-living haplochromines on Earth, a maternal mouthbrooder caught far below the reach of snorkelers, and a commercially important food fish rather than an aquarium subject.

Full Diplotaxodon argenteus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Diplotaxodon argenteus "Cape Maclear"
  2. FishBase: Diplotaxodon argenteus
  3. GBIF: Diplotaxodon argenteus Trewavas, 1935
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Diplotaxodon argenteus
  5. Cichlid Room Companion (Konings) — Diplotaxodon / Lake Malawi offshore cichlids
  6. Turner, Robinson, Shaw & Carvalho (2004) — Identification and Biology of Diplotaxodon, Rhamphochromis and Pallidochromis (Cichlid Press)
  7. IUCN Red List — Diplotaxodon argenteus "Cape Maclear"
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