Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Mchenga conophoros

Mchenga conophoros "Otter Point"

Otter Point — OT-ter POYNT (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 Mchenga conophoros account →

Specific to Otter Point

  • 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 Mchenga conophoros.

IUCNCRITICALLY ENDANGERED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.4 in11.1 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth10–33 ft3–10 m
DietZooplankton/micro-invertebrate feeder over sand
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder; males build conical sand bowers and leksmall (a few dozen eggs, typical for an utaka)
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males assume bright, light-reflecting nuptial dress with black markings in the caudal fin; females and non-breeding males plain silvery. Anal egg-spot ocelli absent.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Otter Point population

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

Colour reference: living Otter Point fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Mchenga conophoros is a small, open-water cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, and one of the lake's celebrated "sandcastle builders." During the breeding season, males gather on sandy shallows and pile up neat cones of sand — bowers — that females inspect before choosing a mate, an arrangement biologists describe as a true lek. Once a common sight in the shallows off Cape Maclear, its bowers have largely vanished from that famous stretch of shoreline, and the IUCN now lists the species as Critically Endangered.

Full Mchenga conophoros account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Mchenga conophoros "Otter Point"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Mchenga conophoros
  3. FishBase — Mchenga conophoros summary
  4. Stauffer, LoVullo & McKaye 1993 — Three new sand-dwelling cichlids from Lake Malawi (Copeia, original description, PDF)
  5. Three New Sand-Dwelling Cichlids from Lake Malawi (Copeia 1993, JSTOR record)
  6. McKaye, Louda & Stauffer 1990 — Bower Size and Male Reproductive Success in a Cichlid Fish Lek (PDF)