Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Otopharynx lithobates

Otopharynx lithobates "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 Otopharynx lithobates 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 Otopharynx lithobates.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6.3 in16 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.5–8.5alkaline
Depth33 ft10 m
DietMicro-predator/omnivore — small invertebrates, insect larvae and crustaceans gleaned from the sediment-rich rock zone
BreedingPolygynous maternal mouthbrooder (harem)~25–50 eggs (hobby accounts)
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong: dominant males dark metallic blue with neon spangles and a bright sulphur-yellow head-and-dorsal blaze; females and subordinate males drab brown-grey. Males also grow larger.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Zimbawe Rock population

Otopharynx lithobates "Zimbawe Rock" is the Zimbawe Rock population of Otopharynx lithobates, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Otopharynx lithobates, 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

Otopharynx lithobates is a small, rock-dwelling cichlid endemic to Lake Malaŵi, named for its habit of frequenting the lake's rocky shores. It is one of the most familiar of all Malaŵi haps in the aquarium hobby, traded for decades as the 'Sulphur-head' or 'Yellow Blaze' Aristochromis: a breeding male is a dark, neon-flecked blue fish capped by a brilliant sulphur-yellow blaze running over the head and dorsal fin. Despite the trade name it is not an Aristochromis at all, but a modest cave-dweller of the sediment-rich rock zone.

Full Otopharynx lithobates account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Otopharynx lithobates "Zimbawe Rock"
  2. FishBase — Otopharynx lithobates Oliver, 1989 (SpecCode 2202; size, distribution, depth, IUCN)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Otopharynx lithobates (valid name, authorship, type data)
  4. Oliver, M.K. 1989 — 'Otopharynx brooksi and O. lithobates', in D.H. Eccles & E. Trewavas, Malaŵian cichlid fishes: the classification of some Haplochromine genera: 161–165 (original description)
  5. The ETYFish Project — Otopharynx (genus) and lithobates etymology
  6. GBIF — Otopharynx lithobates Oliver, 1989