Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Diplotaxodon sp. "Brevimanus"

Diplotaxodon sp. "Brevimanus" "Nkhata Bay"

Diplotaxodon sp. "Brevimanus" (Nkhata Bay)

Nkhata Bay — n-KAH-tah 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 Diplotaxodon sp. "Brevimanus" account →

Specific to Nkhata 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 Diplotaxodon sp. "Brevimanus".

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesDiplotaxodon argenteusTrewavas 1935
Scientific size5 in13 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
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 Nkhata Bay population

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

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

About the species

Diplotaxodon sp. "Brevimanus" is an undescribed member of Lake Malawi's pelagic Diplotaxodon radiation, recorded from open water off Nkhata Bay on the Malawian shore. Its trade name most likely references unusually short paired fins relative to congeners — pectoral or pelvic fin proportions are among the characters used informally to separate the genus's many silvery, superficially similar species — but the precise diagnostic basis has not been confirmed in the sources available for this article. Like its relatives it schools in open water over depth rather than holding a rocky territory, part of a genus in which most forms remain without a formal scientific name.

Full Diplotaxodon sp. "Brevimanus" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Diplotaxodon sp. "Brevimanus" "Nkhata Bay"
  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)
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