Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tropheops sp. "Macrophthalmus Chitimba"

Tropheops sp. "Macrophthalmus Chitimba" "Chitimba Bay (Deep)"

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. "Macrophthalmus Chitimba" account →

Specific to Chitimba Bay (Deep)

  • 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. "Macrophthalmus Chitimba".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in11 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth33–82 ft10–25 m
DietAlgae grazer, scraping aufwuchs from rock surfaces; likely takes proportionally more drifting plankton and detritus at depth as algal growth thins
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest, a few dozen eggs, by analogy with similarly sized Tropheops
Sexual dimorphismYesSexual dichromatism expected as in other Tropheops, with males more saturated; the specific colour pattern of this population has not been documented in independently published sources.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chitimba Bay (Deep) population

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

Colour reference: living Chitimba Bay (Deep) fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Tropheops sp. "Macrophthalmus Chitimba" is an undescribed, deep-water mbuna recorded from the deeper reaches of Chitimba Bay on the far northern shore of Lake Malawi. The trade name ties it to Tropheops macrophthalmus, the described "big-eye" Tropheops of the northern lake, and flags the same enlarged-eye trait in a population collected specifically from depth. Whether it represents the same species at the edge of its depth range or a genuinely distinct form is unresolved; it is carried as a separate provisional label pending closer comparison. It has no authority, no publication year, no FishBase number, and no IUCN assessment.

Full Tropheops sp. "Macrophthalmus Chitimba" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops sp. "Macrophthalmus Chitimba" "Chitimba Bay (Deep)"
  2. malawi.si — Konings-based Lake Malawi cichlid species and locality database
  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)