Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Otopharynx heterodon

Otopharynx heterodon "Cobwe"Royal Blue Hap

Otopharynx heterodon (Chiloelo, Chirwa Island, Chiwi Rocks, Chizumulu Island, Cobwe, Gome, Hai Reef, Katale Island, Lupingu, Magunga, Mphanga Rocks, Nakantenga Island, Ngwasi, Tanzania, Wikihi)

Cobwe — KOH-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
Genus type speciesOtopharynx auromarginatusdescribed as Tilapia auromarginata Boulenger 1908
Scientific size5 in12.8 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.4–8.4alkaline
Hardness (GH)125–536 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
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
  7. IUCN Red List — Otopharynx heterodon "Cobwe"
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