Placidochromis rotundifrons "Msaka"

Msakam-SAH-kah (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 rotundifrons account →

Specific to Msaka

  • 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 rotundifrons.

CARESNOT LISTED
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depthnot recorded
DietGeneralist invertebrate forager typical of non-mbuna Placidochromis; species-specific diet not documented
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodernot documented
Sexual dimorphismYesSexual dimorphism presumed typical of the genus (males more colourful); not documented in detail for this species.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Msaka population

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

Colour reference: living Msaka fish at malawi.si

About the species

Placidochromis rotundifrons is a little-known haplochromine cichlid documented from the Msaka locality in Lake Malawi. Its Latin epithet, "round forehead," points to the rounded head profile that separates it from more sharp-snouted relatives in a genus otherwise built around subtle differences in head shape and lip form. Like other Placidochromis it belongs to the lake's large non-mbuna radiation — open-water and sand-associated cichlids that hunt and forage away from the crowded rock piles favoured by the mbuna.

Full Placidochromis rotundifrons account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Placidochromis rotundifrons "Msaka"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Placidochromis rotundifrons
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)