Nyassachromis sp. "Mphanga" "Mphanga Rocks"

Mphanga Rocksm-PAHN-gah ROKS (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 sp. "Mphanga" account →

Specific to Mphanga Rocks

  • 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 sp. "Mphanga".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in12 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth0–66 ft0–20 m
DietZooplanktivore; feeds in mid-water schools on copepods and other zooplankton (genus-typical; not directly documented for this form)
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder; presumed lek-type spawning with sand-structure display (genus-typical)not documented for this form; genus-typical for small Nyassachromis, roughly 20-40 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesNo colour account specific to this form's breeding males has been published; genus-typical intensified nuptial colour is expected but not documented for this population.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mphanga Rocks population

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

Colour reference: living Mphanga Rocks fish at malawi.si

About the species

Nyassachromis sp. "Mphanga" is an undescribed open-water haplochromine cichlid from Lake Malawi, recorded at Mphanga Rocks on the north-central-western shore. Its trade name is a pure locality tag rather than a resemblance comparison to a described species. Early Malawi cichlid field literature includes reports of an informally recorded "Nyassachromis sp. Mpanga" from the same general area, describing sand-structure breeding behaviour typical of the genus, though whether that historical record and this form are the same population has not been confirmed here. It has no formal description, no describing author, and no FishBase entry.

Full Nyassachromis sp. "Mphanga" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Nyassachromis sp. "Mphanga" "Mphanga Rocks"
  2. Konings, A. — Cichlids Yearbook vol. 1 (Cichlid Press, 1991): sand-turret nest behaviour of the genus Nyassachromis
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — online database (authority for valid fish names; genus Nyassachromis, Turner 1994)