Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Placidochromis koningsi

Placidochromis koningsi "Nkhotakota"

Nkhotakota — n-koh-tah-KOH-tah (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 koningsi account →

Specific to Nkhotakota

  • 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 koningsi.

IUCNDATA DEFICIENT · 2018
DDnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.6 in6.7 cm standard length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth390–403 ft119–123 m
DietProbable durophage (mollusc-crusher) — unicuspid oral teeth with enlarged molariform pharyngeal teeth; inferred from morphology, not observed
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (inferred from the Lake Malawi haplochromine flock; not documented)Unrecorded for this species
Sexual dimorphismNot documentedNot documented; life coloration of this deep-water species is unknown.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkhotakota population

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

Colour reference: living Nkhotakota fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Placidochromis koningsi is a small, deep-water haplochromine cichlid known only from the waters off Nkhotakota on the central-western shore of Lake Malawi. Described by Mark Hanssens in 2004 and named for the cichlid authority Ad Konings, it stands out among its close relatives for its enlarged, molar-like throat teeth — a hint that, unlike most of the deep-water Placidochromis, it may crush hard-shelled prey such as snails. It is a genuine rarity: a single-locality endemic of the lake's cool benthic depths, still classed as Data Deficient because so little is known about it.

Full Placidochromis koningsi account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Placidochromis koningsi "Nkhotakota"
  2. FishBase — Placidochromis koningsi Hanssens, 2004
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Placidochromis koningsi (species record; authorship & type data)
  4. Hanssens, M., 2004 — The deep-water Placidochromis species (original description), in Snoeks (ed.), The Cichlid Diversity of Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa (Cichlid Press): 104–197
  5. Eccles, D.H. & E. Trewavas, 1989 — Malawian Cichlid Fishes: A Classification of Some Haplochromine Genera (genus Placidochromis)
  6. The ETYFish Project — Placidochromis koningsi (etymology; honouring Ad Konings)