Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia

Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia "Ntekete"

Ntekete — n-teh-KEH-teh (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 Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia account →

Specific to Ntekete

  • 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 Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size8.7 in22 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.4–8.4alkaline
Depth23–246 ft7–75 m
DietPiscivore — hunts small cichlids in pairs or groups
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~30–80 eggs (genus-typical; not formally published for this species)
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males develop blue-suffused nuptial colouration with coloured fins; females and non-dominant males are tan-grey with the diagnostic dark tail-stripe.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Ntekete population

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

Colour reference: living Ntekete fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia is a medium-to-large haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, distinguished by a bold dark stripe confined to the rear half of its flanks and caudal peduncle — the 'tail-stripe' its name describes. It is a piscivore of the sand-rock interface, hunting in small groups over shallow sandy grounds while breeding males erect conical sand-castle spawning mounds near rocky reefs. As the type species of its genus, it anchors the small Hemitaeniochromis clade, and its lake-wide distribution from shallow margins down to depths beyond 70 metres makes it one of the more wide-ranging Malawian predators.

Full Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia "Ntekete"
  2. FishBase — Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia (Regan, 1922)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia, species record (online version, updated 19 May 2026)
  4. GBIF — Hemitaeniochromis urotaenia (Regan, 1922), taxon key 2372958
  5. Regan, C.T. (1922) — original description: 'The cichlid fishes of Lake Nyassa', Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1921 (pt 4): 675–727, fig. 11
  6. Eccles, D.H. & Trewavas, E. (1989) — Malawian Cichlid Fishes: the Classification of some Haplochromine Genera (Lake Fish Movies, Herten) — genus erection, lectotype designation, diagnosis of H. urotaenia p. 71