Oreochromis karongae "Zimbawe Rock"
Zimbawe Rock — zim-BAH-way ROK (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 Oreochromis karongae account →Specific to Zimbawe Rock
- 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 Oreochromis karongae.
The Zimbawe Rock population
Oreochromis karongae "Zimbawe Rock" is the Zimbawe Rock population of Oreochromis karongae, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Oreochromis karongae, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Zimbawe Rock fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Oreochromis karongae is one of three large tilapias that Malawians call "chambo" — the most prized food fish in the country and, for generations, the backbone of Lake Malawi's commercial fishery. It is a maternal mouthbrooder endemic to the Lake Malawi catchment, where territorial males turn jet black and dig broad sand craters to court greyish-brown females. That commercial value is also its undoing: decades of overfishing have driven chambo catches toward collapse, and the IUCN now lists Oreochromis karongae as Critically Endangered.
Full Oreochromis karongae account →Sources
- malawi.si — Oreochromis karongae "Zimbawe Rock"
- Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Oreochromis karongae
- FishBase — Oreochromis karongae (Karonga tilapia / Chambo)
- GBIF — Oreochromis karongae (Trewavas, 1941)
- Chavula et al. 2023 — Lake Malawi/Niassa/Nyasa basin: Status, challenges, and research needs (J. Great Lakes Res. 49(6):102241)
- Maturity, age and growth of Oreochromis karongae in Lakes Malawi and Malombe (African J. Aquatic Science)