Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali"

Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali" "Lake Chilingali"

Lake Chilingali — LAYK chee-leen-GAH-lee (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 Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali" account →

Specific to Lake Chilingali

  • 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 Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size8 in20 cm total length
Temperature72–82 °F22–28 °C
pH7–8.5alkaline
Depth0–16 ft0–5 m
DietPresumed pelagic piscivore within Lake Chilingali's own small fish community; not directly documented
BreedingPresumed maternal mouthbrooder (genus-typical)Not documented for this population
Sexual dimorphismYesPresumed present by genus analogy (brighter nuptial colour in dominant males in the better-studied R. esox); never documented for this population before it apparently disappeared.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lake Chilingali population

Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali" "Lake Chilingali" is the Lake Chilingali population of Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali", 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 Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Lake Chilingali fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali" is an undescribed, pike-like open-water cichlid endemic not to Lake Malawi proper but to Lake Chilingali, a tiny satellite lake in the Kaombe River catchment near Nkhotakota, central Malawi. It shares that isolated basin with the formally described Lethrinops chilingali, and its fate has diverged sharply from its co-endemic's: after the 2023 description of Lethrinops chilingali warned that the satellite lake's fish fauna might already be gone, a 2024 field survey rediscovered the Lethrinops in abundance but failed to find this Rhamphochromis at all, and it is now presumed extinct in the wild. It has no describing author, no FishBase page and no formal IUCN assessment.

Full Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Rhamphochromis sp. "Chilingali" "Lake Chilingali"
  2. Turner, G.F., D.A. Crampton & M.J. Genner, 2023 — A new species of Lethrinops (Cichliformes: Cichlidae) from a Lake Malawi satellite lake, believed to be extinct in the wild. Zootaxa 5318(4):518 (co-endemic Lethrinops chilingali; background on Lake Chilingali)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (California Academy of Sciences)