Otopharynx sp. "Blue Flat-jaw" "Kadango"

Kadangokah-DAHN-goh (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 sp. "Blue Flat-jaw" account →

Specific to Kadango

  • 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 sp. "Blue Flat-jaw".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth33–82 ft10–25 m
DietPresumed benthic invertivore, picking prey directly off sand or rock using a flattened lower jaw; not directly documented for this form.
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; modest, genus-typical
Sexual dimorphismYesTrade name implies males show blue nuptial colour; females plainer and less conspicuously coloured. Precise pattern not formally documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kadango population

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

Colour reference: living Kadango fish at malawi.si

About the species

Otopharynx sp. "Blue Flat-jaw" is an undescribed cichlid from Kadango, on the eastern shore of southern Lake Malawi. Its trade name combines a colour cue — blue nuptial coloration in males — with a jaw shape descriptor, "flat-jaw," a term also applied to at least one other undescribed Otopharynx population elsewhere in the lake, suggesting a distinctively flattened or underslung lower jaw shared by more than one locality form.

Full Otopharynx sp. "Blue Flat-jaw" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Otopharynx sp. "Blue Flat-jaw" "Kadango"
  2. malawi.si — Otopharynx (Konings-based species database; Malawi genus overview)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority)
  4. Cichlid Room Companion — Otopharynx (genus profile)