Tropheops sp. "Aurora" "Higga Reef"
Higga Reef — HEE-gah REEF (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 Tropheops sp. "Aurora" account →Specific to Higga Reef
- 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 sp. "Aurora".
The Higga Reef population
Tropheops sp. "Aurora" "Higga Reef" is the Higga Reef population of Tropheops sp. "Aurora", a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Malawi in the northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Tropheops sp. "Aurora", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Higga Reef fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Tropheops sp. "Aurora" is an undescribed mbuna from the Tanzanian shore of Lake Malawi, recorded around Mbamba Bay and neighbouring reefs in the lake’s far north-east — a stretch of coast that, being less accessible and less collected than the Malawian side, has produced a disproportionate number of undescribed cichlid forms. Tropheops is the genus of specialist algae-scraping mbuna with a distinctively blunt, downturned "bulldog" profile and thick, fleshy lips. "Aurora" — Latin for dawn — points to a warm, glowing male colour pattern. It has no describing author, FishBase record, or IUCN status.
Full Tropheops sp. "Aurora" account →