Sciaenochromis ahli "Msisi"Ahli cichlid
Sciaenochromis ahli (Chimwalani Reef, Likoma Island, Masimbwe Island, Mdoka, Msisi)
Msisi — m-SEE-see (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 Sciaenochromis ahli account →Specific to Msisi
- 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 Sciaenochromis ahli.
The Msisi population
Sciaenochromis ahli "Msisi" is the Msisi population of Sciaenochromis ahli, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Malawi in the far northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Sciaenochromis ahli, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Msisi fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Sciaenochromis ahli is a predatory Lake Malawi haplochromine whose dominant males rank among the most intensely blue cichlids in the lake — a fact that has made the species, and its close relatives, a fixture of the "electric blue" trade for decades. It hunts by ambush along the sand-rock interface of the open water column, well below the shallow reef zone favoured by the mbuna. The name most hobbyists actually know, "electric blue ahli," is a common source of confusion, since the fish most often sold under that label in shops is the closely related Sciaenochromis fryeri rather than true S. ahli.
Full Sciaenochromis ahli account →