Tropheops sp. "Lilac" "Nakantenga Island"
Tropheops sp. "Lilac" (Chidunga Rocks, Mkondiwa Reef, Mumbo Island, Nakantenga Island)
Nakantenga Island — nah-kahn-TEHN-gah EYE-land (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. "Lilac" account →Specific to Nakantenga Island
- 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. "Lilac".
The Nakantenga Island population
Tropheops sp. "Lilac" "Nakantenga Island" is the Nakantenga Island population of Tropheops sp. "Lilac", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Tropheops sp. "Lilac", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Nakantenga Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Tropheops sp. "Lilac" is an undescribed mbuna from the islands and rocky points around Cape Maclear, in the southern part of Lake Malawi National Park — a small area famous among cichlid biologists for holding an unusually large number of distinct Tropheops colour forms living side by side on adjoining stretches of rock. This form takes its trade name from the lilac, lavender-toned body colour of breeding males. It has never received a formal scientific description, in keeping with the great majority of the Cape Maclear Tropheops forms.
Full Tropheops sp. "Lilac" account →