Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Placidochromis obscurus

Placidochromis obscurus "South East Arm"

South East Arm — SOWTH EEST ARM (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 obscurus account →

Specific to South East Arm

  • 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 obscurus.

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9 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 South East Arm population

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

Colour reference: living South East Arm fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Placidochromis obscurus 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 obscurus is Latin for 'dark' or 'indistinct,' most likely describing a dusky, poorly differentiated colour pattern rather than any single bold marking — an apt name for a fish diagnosed mainly by measurement rather than by an eye-catching feature. It is documented from the South East Arm of Lake Malawi, one of the lake's most heavily surveyed and heavily fished basins, 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 obscurus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Placidochromis obscurus "South East Arm"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Placidochromis obscurus (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)