Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Mylochromis lateristriga

Mylochromis lateristriga "Chimwalani Reef"

Chimwalani Reef — cheem-wah-LAH-nee 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 Mylochromis lateristriga account →

Specific to Chimwalani 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 Mylochromis lateristriga.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size8.7 in22 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth0–16 ft0–5 m
DietSand-sifting invertivore / hard-prey specialist (crustaceans, molluscs)
BreedingMaternal (ovophilous) mouthbrooder; polygynous, no pair bondnot published for M. lateristriga specifically; ~30–80 eggs inferred from congener data (FLAGGED as undocumented)
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males develop vivid orange-to-red and blue-grey nuptial coloration ('flame' pattern of the trade name); females and subdominant males are cryptically tan-grey with the characteristic oblique stripe.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chimwalani Reef population

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

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

About the species

Mylochromis lateristriga, the basket hap or Giant Flame Oxyrhynchus, is a large haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi and the namesake type species of its genus. It haunts very shallow, silty bays along the lake's southern and eastern shores, rooting through open sediment with a long snout armed with heavy pharyngeal teeth suited to cracking hard-bodied invertebrates. At up to 22 cm it is noticeably bigger than its close look-alike relatives — the sand-sifting 'longnose' forms — and the solid, well-defined diagonal black stripe running from nape to caudal base immediately sets it apart.

Full Mylochromis lateristriga account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Mylochromis lateristriga "Chimwalani Reef"
  2. FishBase — Mylochromis lateristriga (Basket hap)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Mylochromis lateristriga species record
  4. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae part 4: Mylochromis and M. lateristriga etymology (v.18.0, Mar 2026)
  5. Cichlid Room Companion — Mylochromis genus page (type species, synonymy, species list)
  6. Konings, A. — 'The Longnoses of Lake Malawi', Cichlids Yearbook vol. 6 (Cichlid Press, 1996): 20–22