Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Placidochromis argyrogaster

Placidochromis argyrogaster "Chilola Bay"

Chilola Bay — chee-LOH-lah BAY (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 Placidochromis argyrogaster account →

Specific to Chilola Bay

  • 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 Placidochromis argyrogaster.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in11.4 cm standard length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.8–8.6alkaline
Depth167–423 ft51–129 m
DietPresumed benthic invertivore (no direct study; inferred from genus and deep-water habitat)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (inferred from Malawi haplochromine flock; not documented for this species)Unrecorded for this species
Sexual dimorphismNot documentedNot documented; known mainly from preserved, trawled specimens, so live coloration and dimorphism are unrecorded.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chilola Bay population

Placidochromis argyrogaster "Chilola Bay" is the Chilola Bay population of Placidochromis argyrogaster, a geographic colour form from the Mozambique coast of Lake Malawi in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Placidochromis argyrogaster, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Chilola Bay fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Placidochromis argyrogaster is a small, deep-water haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, described in 2004 by Mark Hanssens in his revision of the lake's deep-living Placidochromis. It is recorded from widely separated points around the lake — Chilola Bay in Mozambique, Lukoma Bay in Tanzania and Nkhotakota in Malawi — at depths well beyond diving range. Its name, 'silver belly,' describes the silvery underside of preserved specimens, one of the features Hanssens used to place it.

Full Placidochromis argyrogaster account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Placidochromis argyrogaster "Chilola Bay"
  2. FishBase — Placidochromis argyrogaster Hanssens, 2004 (SpecCode 62393; size, distribution, depth 51-129 m, IUCN)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Placidochromis argyrogaster (valid name, authorship, type data)
  4. Hanssens, M., 2004 — The deep-water Placidochromis species. In: J. Snoeks (ed.), The Cichlid Diversity of Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa, pp. 104-197. Cichlid Press (original description)
  5. Lewis, D.S.C., 1982 — Description of Placidochromis (genus establishment)
  6. GBIF — Placidochromis argyrogaster Hanssens, 2004 (occurrence and taxonomic backbone)