Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle"

Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle" "Cape Maclear"

Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle" (Cape Maclear)

Cape Maclear — kayp muh-KLEER (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 Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle" account →

Specific to Cape Maclear

  • 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 Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle".

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesTramitichromis brevisdescribed as Tilapia brevis Boulenger 1908
Scientific size5 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 446 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth10–49 ft3–15 m
DietSand-sifting invertivore; genus-typical short, robust lower gill rakers sieve heavier sand from lighter invertebrate/algal food
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder (presumed, genus-typical); males build sand bowers as courtship/spawning sitesnot documented for this form
Sexual dimorphismYesNot documented for this form; genus-typical expectation of more strongly coloured, bower-associated breeding males vs. plainer, silvery females.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Cape Maclear population

Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle" "Cape Maclear" is the Cape Maclear population of Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Cape Maclear fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle" is an undescribed sand-dwelling cichlid recorded at Cape Maclear in southern Lake Malawi, near the village of Chembe that gives the form its trade name. As in the rest of its genus, breeding males of this population are expected to build and defend a circular sand bower — a conical or crater-shaped mound excavated in the open sand — as a display and spawning site, the behaviour "Circle" most plausibly references. It has no formal description, no describing author, and no Red List status.

Full Tramitichromis sp. "Chembe Circle" account →

Sources

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