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↑ Collection form of Taeniolethrinops sp. "Furcicauda Ntekete"

Taeniolethrinops sp. "Furcicauda Ntekete" "Ntekete"

Ntekete — n-teh-KEH-teh (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 sp. "Furcicauda Ntekete" account →

Specific to Ntekete

  • 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 sp. "Furcicauda Ntekete".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size8 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth33–66 ft10–20 m
DietSand-sifting invertivore; Konings records breeding males foraging solitarily on open sand near their nests
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder (presumed, genus-typical); males build large crater nests (~100 cm diameter, elevated rim) directly in sand at ~15 m depth (Konings, Cichlids Yearbook Vol. 1)not documented for this form; expected several dozen eggs given the ~20 cm adult size Konings records
Sexual dimorphismYesSexes not separately documented; Konings notes breeding males across Taeniolethrinops acquire striking nuptial colour, but this population's specific breeding dress was not directly observed in his account.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Ntekete population

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

Colour reference: living Ntekete fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Taeniolethrinops sp. "Furcicauda Ntekete" is an undescribed sand-dwelling cichlid found in very small numbers near the village of Ntekete on Lake Malawi's east coast. Ad Konings, who collected the two specimens on which the population's recognition rests, found it similar to the described species Taeniolethrinops furcicauda but distinguishable by a shorter snout and a larger eye. Males build substantial crater nests in open sand and reach roughly 8 in, among the larger of the lake's sand-dwelling haplochromines. It has no formal description, no describing author, and no Red List status.

Full Taeniolethrinops sp. "Furcicauda Ntekete" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Taeniolethrinops sp. "Furcicauda Ntekete" "Ntekete"
  2. Konings, A. (ed.) — Cichlids Yearbook, Vol. 1 (Cichlid Press, 1991)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost field authority on Lake Malawi cichlids)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Fricke, Eschmeyer & Van der Laan, eds., CAS) — searched: no valid name for the undescribed "Furcicauda Ntekete" form (genus Taeniolethrinops record)