Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Hemitilapia oxyrhyncha

Hemitilapia oxyrhyncha "Likoma Island"

Likoma Island — lee-KOH-mah EYE-land (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 Hemitilapia oxyrhyncha account →

Specific to Likoma Island

  • 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 Hemitilapia oxyrhyncha.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.9 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth0–82 ft0–25 m
DietGrazes biocover from plants & sand
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~25–30 eggs (genus-typical; one captive spawn of 28 fry)
Sexual dimorphismYesDominant males develop an overall blue sheen with reddish scale and fin margins and drawn-out dorsal/caudal trailers; females and subordinate males are plain tan-to-silvery grey with darker dorsal blotches
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Likoma Island population

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

Colour reference: living Likoma Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Hemitilapia oxyrhyncha is a Lake Malawi cichlid that earns its keep as a botanist among predators: it makes its living grazing the thin film of algae that coats the strap-shaped leaves of underwater Vallisneria. Often rolling onto its flank to work a single leaf from base to tip with a spade-shaped lower jaw, it is one of the lake's most specialized plant-grazers. Endemic to the Malawi basin and widespread within it, the "Giant Hap" is a large, blue-flushed member of the lake's non-mbuna "hap" radiation that remains uncommon in aquaria.

Full Hemitilapia oxyrhyncha account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Hemitilapia oxyrhyncha "Likoma Island"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Hemitilapia oxyrhynchus (Boulenger 1902)
  3. FishBase: Hemitilapia oxyrhynchus (Giant Haplochromis)
  4. FishBase Field Guide: Hemitilapia oxyrhynchus
  5. BioLib: Hemitilapia oxyrhynchus links and literature
  6. Fryer & Iles (1972), The Cichlid Fishes of the Great Lakes of Africa, as summarized in M.K. Oliver's Trophic Adaptations of Lake Malawi cichlids