Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Otopharynx decorus

Otopharynx decorus "Ntekete"

Ntekete — n-teh-KEH-teh (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 Otopharynx decorus account →

Specific to Ntekete

  • 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 Otopharynx decorus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.1 in18 cm total length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH7.5–8.5alkaline
Depth20 ft6 m
DietPresumed benthic carnivore/invertivore (no direct study; inferred from size, morphology and relatives)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (inferred from genus/flock; not directly documented)Unrecorded; haps of this size typically lay a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger and more colourful in breeding condition, as in Malaŵi haps generally; females and non-territorial males plainer.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Ntekete population

Otopharynx decorus "Ntekete" is the Ntekete population of Otopharynx decorus, 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 Otopharynx decorus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Ntekete fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Otopharynx decorus is a haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malaŵi, described by Ethelwynn Trewavas in 1935 from Vua on the far northern shore and recorded from both ends of the lake. A moderately deep-bodied 'hap' of around 18 cm, it lives over sand near rocks and carries the three-spot melanic pattern of its genus. Its placement is debated: several authors consider it better assigned to the related genus Mylochromis.

Full Otopharynx decorus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Otopharynx decorus "Ntekete"
  2. FishBase — Otopharynx decorus (Trewavas, 1935) (SpecCode 2204; size, distribution, depth)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Otopharynx decorus (valid name, authorship, type locality 'Vua'; note on possible Mylochromis placement)
  4. Trewavas, E., 1935 — A synopsis of the cichlid fishes of Lake Nyasa (original description as Haplochromis decorus)
  5. Snoeks, J. & Hanssens, M., 2004 — in The Cichlid Diversity of Lake Malaŵi/Nyasa/Niassa (assessment of haplochromine genera; decorus better placed in Mylochromis)
  6. Oliver, M.K., 2018 — Six New Species of the Cichlid Genus Otopharynx from Lake Malaŵi (genus diagnosis and three-spot melanic pattern)