Maylandia sp. "Aggressive Greyhead" "Nakantenga Island"

Nakantenga Islandnah-kahn-TEHN-gah 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 Maylandia sp. "Aggressive Greyhead" account →

Specific to Nakantenga 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 Maylandia sp. "Aggressive Greyhead".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in11 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 357 ppm
Depth7–49 ft2–15 m
DietAufwuchs grazer (genus-typical), scraping algal film and associated invertebrates from rock surfaces.
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygynous, male-territorial; cave/crevice territory presumed)Not documented for this form; genus-typical range roughly 12-40 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesTrade name implies grey colouring on the head, distinguishing males from a similar sympatric form; full pattern and any female-specific colouring not formally documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nakantenga Island population

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

Colour reference: living Nakantenga Island fish at malawi.si

About the species

Maylandia sp. "Aggressive Greyhead" is an undescribed rock-dwelling mbuna recorded at Nakantenga Island, a small rocky island off Malawi's central-west shore near Senga Bay. Its trade name combines a colour feature — grey colouring across the head — with a behavioural qualifier, "aggressive", a label field collectors have long used to separate similar-looking mbuna forms that turn out to differ in temperament when kept or observed closely. The colour description beyond the grey head has not been formally published, and this article does not go further than what the name and genus placement support.

Full Maylandia sp. "Aggressive Greyhead" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Maylandia sp. "Aggressive Greyhead" "Nakantenga Island"
  2. malawi.si — species and locality database (Konings-based)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Maylandia genus overview (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority)