Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Diplotaxodon sp. "Ecclesi White Dorsal"

Diplotaxodon sp. "Ecclesi White Dorsal" "South East Arm"

South East Arm — SOWTH EEST ARM (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. "Ecclesi White Dorsal" account →

Specific to South East Arm

  • 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. "Ecclesi White Dorsal".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.5 in14 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth33–328 ft10–100 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 South East Arm population

Diplotaxodon sp. "Ecclesi White Dorsal" "South East Arm" is the South East Arm population of Diplotaxodon sp. "Ecclesi White Dorsal", 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 sp. "Ecclesi White Dorsal", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living South East Arm fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Diplotaxodon sp. "Ecclesi White Dorsal" is an undescribed pelagic cichlid recorded from open water in the South East Arm of Lake Malawi. Its trade name draws a comparison to the formally described Diplotaxodon ecclesi, a separate species documented near Monkey Bay in the southern lake, and adds a further field mark — a white dorsal fin — used to tell it apart in the water. The comparison in the name signals resemblance, not identity: this form has not been shown to be the same species as D. ecclesi, and its precise relationship to it has not been resolved by any published study.

Full Diplotaxodon sp. "Ecclesi White Dorsal" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Diplotaxodon sp. "Ecclesi White Dorsal" "South East Arm"
  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)