Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Docimodus evelynae

Docimodus evelynae "Mala Point"

Docimodus evelynae (Mala Point, Meponda, Minos Reef)

Mala Point — MAH-lah POYNT (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 Docimodus evelynae account →

Specific to Mala Point

  • 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 Docimodus evelynae.

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesDocimodus johnstoniBoulenger 1897
Scientific size8 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 214 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth0–131 ft0–40 m
DietLepidophage — feeds on the flank scales of other cichlids
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderNot documented
Sexual dimorphismYesNot well catalogued because the species is rarely collected; breeding males are expected to intensify in colour as in most Malawi haplochromines.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mala Point population

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

Colour reference: living Mala Point fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Docimodus evelynae is one of Lake Malawi's rarest and strangest cichlids: a scale-eating (lepidophagous) haplochromine that David Eccles and Digby Lewis added to the genus Docimodus in 1976, eighty years after Boulenger erected the genus for its heavy-jawed relative Docimodus johnstoni. Where D. johnstoni bites the fins off catfish, D. evelynae specialises on the flank scales of other cichlids — a division of labour between the lake's only two tissue-cropping haplochromine species. It is seldom seen even by researchers and essentially unknown in the aquarium trade.

Full Docimodus evelynae account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Docimodus evelynae "Mala Point"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — search interface (authority for the valid name)
  3. FishBase — Docimodus evelynae species summary
  4. Eccles, D. H. & Lewis, D. S. C. 1976 — A revision of the genus Docimodus Boulenger (Pisces: Cichlidae), a group of fishes with unusual feeding habits from Lake Malawi (Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society)
  5. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)
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