Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Sciaenochromis sp. "Small Interorbital"

Sciaenochromis sp. "Small Interorbital" "Wissman Bay"

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 sp. "Small Interorbital" account →

Specific to Wissman 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 Sciaenochromis sp. "Small Interorbital".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7 in18 cm total length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 339 ppm
Depth33–131 ft10–40 m
DietPiscivore, presumed genus-typical predator of small fish (small mbuna and other small cichlids)
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder (inferred from genus/flock)not documented for this form
Sexual dimorphismMinimalNot documented for this form; described congeners show strong male breeding colour against cryptic barred females.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Wissman Bay population

Sciaenochromis sp. "Small Interorbital" "Wissman Bay" is the Wissman Bay population of Sciaenochromis sp. "Small Interorbital", 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 sp. "Small Interorbital", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Wissman Bay fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Sciaenochromis sp. "Small Interorbital" is an undescribed predatory cichlid recorded from Wissman Bay on Lake Malawi's Tanzanian shore, distinguished by a narrower space between the eyes than typical for the genus — a meristic character used, in the absence of a confident species match, to sort otherwise similar unassigned Sciaenochromis populations. It belongs to the same small genus of open-water hunters as the widely traded electric-blue S. fryeri; no authority, formal description or conservation status attaches to it.

Full Sciaenochromis sp. "Small Interorbital" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Sciaenochromis sp. "Small Interorbital" "Wissman Bay"
  2. Sciaenochromis | Cichlid Room Companion (genus profile, valid & undescribed species)
  3. malawi.si — Sciaenochromis species and locality-form database (Konings-based; distribution, biotope)
  4. FishBase — Sciaenochromis ahli summary (size, depth, chemistry, IUCN)