Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Placidochromis electra

Placidochromis electra "Border"

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 electra account →

Specific to Border

  • 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 electra.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6.7 in17 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth7–164 ft2–50 m
DietFollower invertivore — picks exposed invertebrates from sand disturbed by digging cichlids
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~50 eggs (FishBase); ~70 in one recorded aquarium spawn (malawi.si)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales become deep blue to blue-black with egg-spot anal fin markings; females are silver-sand and several centimetres smaller. Both sexes carry the diagnostic dark cheek bar at all times.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Border population

Placidochromis electra "Border" is the Border population of Placidochromis electra, 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 Placidochromis electra, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Border fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Placidochromis electra, the deep water hap, is a large, electric-blue haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, where it ranges along the eastern shore and around Likoma Island over open sand. It is a bold visual fish in a lake full of colourful cichlids, yet its most distinctive quality is behavioural rather than cosmetic: instead of digging for its own food, it shadows large sand-sifting species — chiefly Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis — and plucks exposed invertebrates from the furrows they plough. That alliance between a luminous blue follower and a massive, industrious excavator is one of the more vivid feeding partnerships in the Malawi cichlid community.

Full Placidochromis electra account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Placidochromis electra "Border"
  2. Burgess, W.E. 1979. Studies on the family Cichlidae: 9. Haplochromis electra, a new species of cichlid from the waters around Likoma Island, Lake Malawi. Tropical Fish Hobbyist 27(8): 91–94
  3. FishBase — Placidochromis electra (Deep-water hap)
  4. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Placidochromis electra species record
  5. ETYFish Project — Family Cichlidae: Subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae (p–y): Placidochromis electra etymology
  6. Konings, A. 1991. Blue Sand-Dwellers in Lake Malawi. Cichlids Yearbook vol. 1 (Cichlid Press)