Otopharynx spelaeotes "Mandalawi Reef"
Mandalawi Reef — mahn-dah-LAH-wee REEF (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 spelaeotes account →Specific to Mandalawi Reef
- 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 spelaeotes.
The Mandalawi Reef population
Otopharynx spelaeotes "Mandalawi Reef" is the Mandalawi Reef population of Otopharynx spelaeotes, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Malawi in the northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Otopharynx spelaeotes, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Mandalawi Reef fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Otopharynx spelaeotes is a Lake Malawi haplochromine whose species name — Greek for "cave dweller" — points directly to its habit of sheltering in and around rock crevices and cave-like recesses, a more secretive lifestyle than the open-water habits of many of its Otopharynx relatives. It is documented from several sites along the lake's northern and central shorelines, and belongs to a genus whose members range from open-water zooplankton feeders to rock- and crevice-associated species like this one.
Full Otopharynx spelaeotes account →