Otopharynx sp. "Spots" "Chia"
Chia — CHEE-ah (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. "Spots" account →Specific to Chia
- 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. "Spots".
The Chia population
Otopharynx sp. "Spots" "Chia" is the Chia population of Otopharynx sp. "Spots", 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 sp. "Spots", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Chia fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Otopharynx sp. "Spots" is an undescribed cichlid from the south-western part of Lake Malawi, recorded at Chia, Nkhomo Reef, and Sani, near Senga Bay. Its trade name describes a spotted pattern on the flanks of breeding males, a feature echoed in the species names of several described Otopharynx — such as O. tetraspilus, the "four-spot" hap — though the precise arrangement of spots in this particular form has not been the subject of a published description.
Full Otopharynx sp. "Spots" account →