Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tropheops sp. "Band"

Tropheops sp. "Band" "Nkhata Bay"

Nkhata Bay — n-KAH-tah BAY (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. "Band" account →

Specific to Nkhata Bay

  • 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. "Band".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in11 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth10–66 ft3–20 m
DietAlgae grazer, scraping aufwuchs from rock surfaces using specialised comb-like teeth
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest, a few dozen eggs, by analogy with similarly sized Tropheops
Sexual dimorphismYesNamed for a dark vertical bar/band retained in the colour pattern; full nuptial male colouration not documented for this specific population.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkhata Bay population

Tropheops sp. "Band" "Nkhata Bay" is the Nkhata Bay population of Tropheops sp. "Band", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Tropheops sp. "Band", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Nkhata Bay fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Tropheops sp. "Band" is an undescribed rock-dwelling mbuna recorded from the Nkhata Bay area on the western shore of Lake Malawi. Its trade name refers to a dark vertical bar or band retained in its colour pattern, a feature used to distinguish it from other Tropheops sharing the same stretch of coastline. Like all members of the genus it is an algae grazer, scraping aufwuchs from rock with specialised comb-like teeth. It has never been formally described, so it carries no authority, no publication year, no FishBase entry, and no IUCN assessment.

Full Tropheops sp. "Band" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops sp. "Band" "Nkhata Bay"
  2. malawi.si — Konings-based Lake Malawi cichlid species and locality database (Tropheops)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Malawi cichlid genus and undescribed-form references (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority)