Tropheops kamtambo "Border"

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 Tropheops kamtambo account →

Specific to Border

  • 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 Tropheops kamtambo.

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4 in10 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)slightly hardup to 214 ppm
Depth3–49 ft1–15 m
DietGrazes algal turf (aufwuchs) from rock surfaces using thick lips and comb-like teeth
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderNot documented for this species; likely a few dozen eggs by comparison with similarly sized Tropheops
Sexual dimorphismYesTropheops breeding males are often vividly coloured (blue/yellow/orange tones common in the genus); females plainer. Specific pattern for this species not confidently documented here.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Border population

Tropheops kamtambo "Border" is the Border population of Tropheops kamtambo, 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 Tropheops kamtambo, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Border fish at malawi.si

About the species

Tropheops kamtambo is a rock-dwelling mbuna from the southern reaches of Lake Malawi, part of Tropheops, a genus of blunt-snouted, thick-lipped algae grazers whose name nods to a superficial resemblance to Tropheus, the famous grazing cichlid genus of Lake Tanganyika. Tropheops is one of the lake's largest mbuna genera by species count, with numerous local colour forms scattered across its rocky surf-zone habitat, and this species is known from a cluster of southern-lake reefs.

Full Tropheops kamtambo account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops kamtambo "Border"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — species search (California Academy of Sciences)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)