Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Placidochromis macrognathus

Placidochromis macrognathus "Domira Bay"

Domira Bay — doh-MEE-rah 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 macrognathus account →

Specific to Domira 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 macrognathus.

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9.5 cm standard length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.8–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 357 ppm
Depth66–262 ft20–80 m
DietPresumed benthic invertivore working deep sediment (no direct study; inferred from genus and habitat)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderUnrecorded for this species; comparable deep-water Placidochromis run from a few dozen to about a hundred eggs
Sexual dimorphismNot documentedNot documented; known mainly from preserved, trawled specimens, so breeding coloration and dimorphism are unrecorded.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Domira Bay population

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

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

About the species

Placidochromis macrognathus is a small, little-known haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, one of the many deep-water Placidochromis named in a single stroke by the Belgian ichthyologist Mark Hanssens in his 2004 monographic revision of the genus. The epithet macrognathus is Greek for 'large jaw' (makros, 'large' + gnathos, 'jaw'), and it marks out a deep-water Placidochromis diagnosed in part by an enlarged jaw relative to its close relatives. It is documented from Domira Bay on the central-western Malawian shore, the same bay that also produced the deep-water species Placidochromis domirae, and like its many relatives in the same revision it is known chiefly from preserved, trawled specimens rather than from living, brightly coloured fish.

Full Placidochromis macrognathus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Placidochromis macrognathus "Domira Bay"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Placidochromis macrognathus (valid name, authorship, type data)
  3. Hanssens, M., 2004 — The deep-water Placidochromis species. In: J. Snoeks (ed.), The Cichlid Diversity of Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa: Identification, Distribution and Taxonomy, pp. 104-197. Cichlid Press (original description of the deep-water Placidochromis cohort)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi authority)