Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Diplotaxodon argenteus

Diplotaxodon argenteus "Narungu"

Narungu — nah-ROON-goo (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 Narungu

  • 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
Scientific size8 in20.4 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
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 Narungu population

Diplotaxodon argenteus "Narungu" is the Narungu population of Diplotaxodon argenteus, 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 Diplotaxodon argenteus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Narungu 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 "Narungu"
  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)