Tropheops sp. "Orange Head" "Mphanga Rocks"

Mphanga Rocksm-PAHN-gah ROKS (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. "Orange Head" account →

Specific to Mphanga Rocks

  • 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. "Orange Head".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4 in10.5 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth7–49 ft2–15 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 dimorphismYesTrade name indicates an orange patch on the head of males; full independently published colour description not available for this form.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mphanga Rocks population

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

Colour reference: living Mphanga Rocks fish at malawi.si

About the species

Tropheops sp. "Orange Head" is an undescribed mbuna recorded from Mphanga Rocks on the far northern Malawian shore of Lake Malawi. The trade name describes an orange patch reported on the head of males, distinguishing it in the hobby from the separately named "Orange Chest" form collected from the Cape Maclear area in the south, and from the many other Tropheops trade forms recorded along the north Malawi coast. It has no authority, no publication year, no FishBase number, and no IUCN assessment.

Full Tropheops sp. "Orange Head" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops sp. "Orange Head" "Mphanga Rocks"
  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)