Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Gephyrochromis sp. "Patricki Minos"

Gephyrochromis sp. "Patricki Minos" "Minos Reef"

Minos Reef — MEE-nohs REEF (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 Gephyrochromis sp. "Patricki Minos" account →

Specific to Minos Reef

  • 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 Gephyrochromis sp. "Patricki Minos".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in12 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth16–131 ft5–40 m
DietSand/periphyton comber or aufwuchs/invertebrate picker over sand (genus-typical; exact mode not documented for this form)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (presumed, genus-typical)Not documented for this form; genus-typical broods run roughly 25-50+ fry per congener reports
Sexual dimorphismMinimalNot documented for this form; described Gephyrochromis show real male colour (orange throat in G. moorii, blue-violet with orange-gold dorsal blaze in G. lawsi), but which pattern, if either, applies here has not been published.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Minos Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Minos Reef fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Gephyrochromis sp. "Patricki Minos" is an undescribed sand-associated cichlid recorded at Minos Reef on the Mozambican shore of Lake Malawi. It is generally referred to under the field name Gephyrochromis sp. "patricki," a population Ad Konings has tentatively placed within this small genus pending formal description, and "Minos" further pins the population to its specific reef. Gephyrochromis is one of the smallest and least-studied genera among the lake's mbuna relatives — only two species, Gephyrochromis moorii and Gephyrochromis lawsi, have ever been formally described in over a century — so an unresolved form like this one sits inside a genus where most of the diversity is still informally understood rather than named.

Full Gephyrochromis sp. "Patricki Minos" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Gephyrochromis sp. "Patricki Minos" "Minos Reef"
  2. malawi.si — Gephyrochromis species and locality database
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Gephyrochromis genus overview (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. (2016). Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 5th edition (Cichlid Press; tentative placement of Gephyrochromis sp. 'patricki')