Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Nyassachromis breviceps

Nyassachromis breviceps "Nkhomo Reef"

Nkhomo Reef — n-KOH-moh 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 Nyassachromis breviceps account →

Specific to Nkhomo 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 Nyassachromis breviceps.

IUCNCRITICALLY ENDANGERED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6.1 in15.4 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth52 ft16 m
DietPhytoplankton feeder (FishBase; trophic level ~2.0)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder; male builds and defends a sand nest (using small stones, unusually for the genus)Unrecorded for this species
Sexual dimorphismYesGenus-typical: breeding males coloured (bluish) and nest-tending, females and non-breeding fish silvery and plain; not studied in detail for this species.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkhomo Reef population

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

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

About the species

Nyassachromis breviceps is a small, short-headed sand-cichlid endemic to the southern reaches of Lake Malawi. Described by Charles Tate Regan in 1922 from the lake's open sandy floors, it is one of the more cryptic members of the utaka-related genus Nyassachromis — a group of slender, plankton-feeding haplochromines in which the males build sand nests to spawn. Unusually for the genus, breeding males of this species reportedly seek out small stones to incorporate into their nests, and the fish is now rated Critically Endangered by the IUCN on the strength of its very small known range.

Full Nyassachromis breviceps account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Nyassachromis breviceps "Nkhomo Reef"
  2. FishBase — Nyassachromis breviceps (Regan, 1922)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Nyassachromis breviceps (species record; type data, valid name)
  4. Regan, C. T., 1922 — The cichlid fishes of Lake Nyassa. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1921: 675–727 (original description, Haplochromis breviceps)
  5. Eccles, D. H. & E. Trewavas, 1989 — Malawian Cichlid Fishes: a classification of some Haplochromine genera (Nyassachromis erected; breviceps placed here)
  6. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae (Pseudocrenilabrinae l–o): Nyassachromis breviceps etymology (brevis + -ceps, 'short head')