Otopharynx heterodon "Cobwe"

CobweKOH-bweh (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 heterodon account →

Specific to Cobwe

  • 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 heterodon.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5 in12.8 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.4–8.4alkaline
Depth33–66 ft10–20 m
DietInvertivore (picks sediment & biocover)
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodersmall (~20-60 eggs)
Sexual dimorphismYesDominant males metallic royal blue with darker bars, yellow chest and a dark eye-stripe; females and juveniles cryptic sandy-silver with three black flank blotches.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Cobwe population

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

Colour reference: living Cobwe fish at malawi.si

About the species

Otopharynx heterodon, the royal blue hap, is a mid-sized haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, where it ranges the length of the lake along the seam between rock and sand. Males glow metallic blue with a yellow chest; the more sober, three-spotted females do the parenting, brooding eggs in their mouths. It earns its living the unglamorous way — sifting edible particles out of sediment stirred up off the bottom — and its mild temperament has made it a recurring, if cyclical, favorite among Malawi aquarists.

Full Otopharynx heterodon account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Otopharynx heterodon "Cobwe"
  2. Otopharynx heterodon (Royal blue hap) — FishBase species summary
  3. Otopharynx heterodon — FishBase territory/distribution list
  4. Haplochromis heterodon Trewavas, 1935 — FishBase synonym detail
  5. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer/CAS) — Otopharynx heterodon species record
  6. Otopharynx heterodon (Trewavas, 1935) — CLOFFA / Africa Museum type record