Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Gephyrochromis sp. "Yellow"

Gephyrochromis sp. "Yellow" "Mbamba Bay"

Mbamba Bay — m-BAHM-bah 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 Gephyrochromis sp. "Yellow" account →

Specific to Mbamba 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 Gephyrochromis sp. "Yellow".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in12 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth13–82 ft4–25 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 25-40+ fry per congener reports
Sexual dimorphismMinimalNot documented beyond the defining yellow body colour named in the trade name; no confirmed male-versus-female colour account is available.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbamba Bay population

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

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

About the species

Gephyrochromis sp. "Yellow" is an undescribed, predominantly yellow-bodied cichlid recorded at Mbamba Bay on the southern Tanzanian shore of Lake Malawi. It belongs to a small, poorly known genus of sand-associated mbuna relatives — only Gephyrochromis moorii and Gephyrochromis lawsi have ever been formally described — and has never itself received a scientific name. Mbamba Bay has produced several other distinctly named Gephyrochromis field forms besides this one, an indication of how much undocumented diversity sits inside a genus most hobbyists have never heard of.

Full Gephyrochromis sp. "Yellow" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Gephyrochromis sp. "Yellow" "Mbamba Bay"
  2. malawi.si — Gephyrochromis species and locality database
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Gephyrochromis genus overview (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; Gephyrochromis biology and southeastern-arm/Tanzanian locality forms)