Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Diplotaxodon sp. "Bigeye Blackdorsal"

Diplotaxodon sp. "Bigeye Blackdorsal" "Chilumba"

Chilumba — chee-LOOM-bah (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 sp. "Bigeye Blackdorsal" account →

Specific to Chilumba

  • 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 sp. "Bigeye Blackdorsal".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.5 in14 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth66–492 ft20–150 m
DietOpen-water zooplanktivore (genus-typical); feeds on copepods and other zooplankton in the water column
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (presumed, genus-typical)Not documented; genus is notably low-fecundity, often a handful of well-developed fry per brood in better-studied congeners
Sexual dimorphismMinimalNot documented for this form; genus-typical Diplotaxodon show subdued, largely monochromatic breeding colour suited to dim open water rather than the bold dichromatism of rock-dwelling mbuna.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chilumba population

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

Colour reference: living Chilumba fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Diplotaxodon sp. "Bigeye Blackdorsal" is an undescribed member of Lake Malawi's open-water cichlid radiation, known from the pelagic zone off Chilumba and Nkhata Bay in the northern half of the lake. It has never been given a formal scientific name; the trade name records two of the field marks used to tell it apart from the many other silvery, superficially similar Diplotaxodon species — an unusually large eye and a noticeably dark, almost black dorsal fin. Like its relatives it lives away from rock and sand, schooling in open water over deep water rather than holding a reef territory, part of a genus so poorly studied that most of its species remain without a Latin name.

Full Diplotaxodon sp. "Bigeye Blackdorsal" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Diplotaxodon sp. "Bigeye Blackdorsal" "Chilumba"
  2. malawi.si — Diplotaxodon species and locality database
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Diplotaxodon genus overview (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; deep-water and pelagic Diplotaxodon)
  5. Turner, G.F. et al. — Fishes of Malawi (species accounts and biology of the Diplotaxodon radiation)