Placidochromis polli "Monkey Bay"
Monkey Bay — MUNK-ee 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 polli account →Specific to Monkey 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 polli.
The Monkey Bay population
Placidochromis polli "Monkey Bay" is the Monkey Bay population of Placidochromis polli, 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 polli, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Monkey Bay fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Placidochromis polli is a sand-dwelling haplochromine of Lake Malawi, one of several species in a genus whose name — "placid" cichlid — reflects the calm, unhurried foraging style shared across the group compared with the excitable mbuna. Its species epithet honours a fish taxonomist surnamed Poll, a patronym typical of mid-twentieth-century ichthyology. It is documented from Domira Bay on the west-central shore and Monkey Bay in the south, two localities that together suggest a fairly wide distribution along the Malawian coastline rather than a single-site endemic.
Full Placidochromis polli account →