Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lichnochromis acuticeps

Lichnochromis acuticeps "Nkanda"

Nkanda — n-KAHN-dah (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 Lichnochromis acuticeps account →

Specific to Nkanda

  • 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 Lichnochromis acuticeps.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.9 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth16–49 ft5–15 m
DietCrevice hunter: insect larvae and small Mbuna
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderSmall; ~10 large eggs per spawn reported at sub-adult size (community observation; no published count)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger, more colorful — blue and yellow in breeding dress with elongated fin filaments; females silvery-grey to pale tan with faint oblique flank stripe.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkanda population

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

Colour reference: living Nkanda fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Lichnochromis acuticeps, known in the hobby as the Malawi gar, is a long-snouted, laterally compressed cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi and the sole member of its genus. What looks like a generalist predator is in fact a precision crevice hunter: it sweeps along rocky shores at the sand–rock interface, rolls its body sideways, and drives that improbably narrow head deep into horizontal cracks to extract insect larvae and young Mbuna that no blunt-mouthed rival can reach.

Full Lichnochromis acuticeps account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Lichnochromis acuticeps "Nkanda"
  2. Trewavas, E. (1935). A Synopsis of the Cichlid Fishes of Lake Nyasa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Series 10, 16(91):65–118
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lichnochromis acuticeps Trewavas 1935 (species record, updated May 2026)
  4. FishBase — Lichnochromis acuticeps (Malawi gar)
  5. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy — Lichnochromis acuticeps Trewavas 1935
  6. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae (Pseudocrenilabrinae l–o): Lichnochromis and Lichnochromis acuticeps