Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis

Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis "Ngara"

Ngara — n-GAH-rah (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 Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis account →

Specific to Ngara

  • 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 Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size11.8 in30 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth0–164 ft0–50 m
DietSand-sifting benthic invertivore; digs insect larvae and invertebrates from open sand
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder; lek-like crater-nest spawnerUndocumented from wild; consistent with large sand-dwelling haplochromine congeners
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males develop pale blue to blue-grey coloration with a greenish-blue snout; females remain drab silver-grey. Juveniles of both sexes show a bright yellow head that fades with age.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Ngara population

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

Colour reference: living Ngara fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis is the largest sand-sifting cichlid in Lake Malawi, a solitary, long-snouted hap that ploughs through the open sandy shallows of the lake's southern basin looking for buried invertebrates. What makes it ecologically remarkable is what follows it: several species of blue haplochromines — most famously Placidochromis electra and Protomelas annectens — shadow individual digging fish to pick exposed prey from the furrows, a commensal relationship that is unusual among freshwater cichlids anywhere.

Full Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis "Ngara"
  2. FishBase — Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis (Regan, 1922) summary page
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis (species record)
  4. Regan, C.T. 1922 — 'The Cichlid Fishes of Lake Nyassa'. Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1921(pt 4):675–727 (original description, p. 717) [via Cichlid Room Companion reference crc00066]
  5. Cichlid Room Companion — Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis species profile (curator: Ad Konings; last updated 12 Feb 2022)
  6. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae part 5 (Scharpf, v. 21.0, April 2026): Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis etymology