Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Mchenga cyclicos

Mchenga cyclicos "Masasa Reef"

Masasa Reef — mah-SAH-sah 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 Mchenga cyclicos account →

Specific to Masasa 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 Mchenga cyclicos.

IUCNNEAR THREATENED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.8 in12.1 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth10–23 ft3–7 m
DietZooplankton/micro-invertebrate feeder over sand
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder; lek-breeding bower-builderNot documented for the species; genus-typical small utaka brood of a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males show black caudal markings and small bicuspid outer jaw teeth and build cone-shaped sand bowers; females and non-breeding males are a cryptic countershaded silver and lack anal-fin egg-spot ocelli
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Masasa Reef population

Mchenga cyclicos "Masasa Reef" is the Masasa Reef population of Mchenga cyclicos, 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 cyclicos, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

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

About the species

Mchenga cyclicos is a small, silvery zooplankton-feeder endemic to Lake Malawi, one of a guild of open-water cichlids that Malawian fishers lump together as "utaka." Its claim to fame is architectural: breeding males abandon the shoals to build cone-shaped sand bowers on the lake floor, gathering into dense breeding arenas where females shop the leks for the best builder. Described in 1993 as a Copadichromis, it later became the type species of its own genus, Mchenga — a Chichewa word that simply means "sand."

Full Mchenga cyclicos account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Mchenga cyclicos "Masasa Reef"
  2. Mchenga cyclicos — FishBase summary
  3. Mchenga cyclicos — Reproduction Summary (FishBase)
  4. Catalog of Fishes — Mchenga cyclicos (species record)
  5. Catalog of Fishes — genus Mchenga
  6. Stauffer, LoVullo & McKaye (1993). Three new sand-dwelling cichlids from Lake Malawi, with a discussion of the status of Copadichromis. Copeia 1993(4):1017-1027 (PDF)