Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Maylandia usisyae

Maylandia usisyae "Tchinga Reef"

Tchinga Reef — TCHEEN-gah REEF (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 usisyae account →

Specific to Tchinga Reef

  • 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 usisyae.

IUCNCRITICALLY ENDANGERED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3 in7.5 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth23–49 ft7–15 m
DietGrazes aufwuchs from rock
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~10–30 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMarked. Territorial males yellow-to-mustard with blue forehead bars, blue throat, and a blue egg-spotted anal fin; females plain dull brown with faint dark bars.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Tchinga Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Tchinga Reef fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Maylandia usisyae is a small, slender mbuna cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, formally described in 2016 from a stretch of rocky shoreline near the village of Usisya on the lake's northwestern coast. Known to aquarists as the "Usisya" or "Yellow Mara Elongatus," it is an aufwuchs-comber of the intermediate zone where rock meets sand. Its standout fact is also its predicament: it is known from just two reefs totaling roughly 4 km², which is why the IUCN lists it as Critically Endangered even though it is locally common where it occurs.

Full Maylandia usisyae account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Maylandia usisyae "Tchinga Reef"
  2. Maylandia usisyae — FishBase summary
  3. Maylandia usisyae — GBIF (accepted taxon, with description excerpts)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (California Academy of Sciences)
  5. Li, Konings & Stauffer (2016): A Revision of the Pseudotropheus elongatus species group, Zootaxa 4168(2):353–381
  6. Li, Konings & Stauffer (2016) — ResearchGate copy