Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Rhamphochromis sp. "Kingiri Dwarf"

Rhamphochromis sp. "Kingiri Dwarf" "Lake Kingiri"

Rhamphochromis sp. "Kingiri Dwarf" (Lake Kingiri)

Lake Kingiri — LAYK keen-GEE-ree (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. "Kingiri Dwarf" account →

Specific to Lake Kingiri

  • 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. "Kingiri Dwarf".

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesRhamphochromis longicepsdescribed as Hemichromis longiceps Günther 1864
Scientific size5 in13 cm total length
Temperature72–82 °F22–28 °C
pH7–8.5alkaline
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth0–16 ft0–5 m
DietPresumed piscivore/invertivore within Lake Kingiri's own small aquatic community; not directly documented
BreedingPresumed maternal mouthbrooder (genus-typical)Not documented for this population; plausibly reduced given the fish's smaller apparent body size
Sexual dimorphismYesPresumed present by genus analogy; never documented for this population.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lake Kingiri population

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

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

About the species

Rhamphochromis sp. "Kingiri Dwarf" is an undescribed, pike-like open-water cichlid endemic not to Lake Malawi proper but to Lake Kingiri, a small satellite lake in central Malawi in the same general area as the better-documented Lake Chilingali. Its trade name points to a body size smaller than typical Rhamphochromis — an expected outcome of isolation in a small, resource-limited lake, though the precise degree of size reduction has not been formally measured. It has no describing author, no FishBase page and no IUCN assessment.

Full Rhamphochromis sp. "Kingiri Dwarf" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Rhamphochromis sp. "Kingiri Dwarf" "Lake Kingiri"
  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 (background on the Nkhotakota-area satellite lake cluster including Lake Kingiri and Lake Chilingali)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (California Academy of Sciences)
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