Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Otopharynx ovatus

Otopharynx ovatus "Nkhomo Reef"

Nkhomo Reef — n-KOH-moh 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 Otopharynx ovatus account →

Specific to Nkhomo 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 Otopharynx ovatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size8 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH7–8.5alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 357 ppm
Depth—not recorded
DietPaedophage — feeds on the eggs (and larvae) of other cichlids (FishBase)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (inferred from genus/flock; not directly documented)Unrecorded; haps of this size typically lay a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger and more colourful in breeding condition, as in Malaŵi haps generally; females and non-territorial males plainer.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkhomo Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Nkhomo Reef fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Otopharynx ovatus is a haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malaŵi, described by Ethelwynn Trewavas in 1935 from the southern end of the lake. One of the larger members of its genus at around 8 in, it hangs in midwater over rock and sand and carries the diagnostic Otopharynx three-spot melanic pattern. Its most distinctive habit is dietary: it is a paedophage, feeding on the eggs and larvae of other cichlids.

Full Otopharynx ovatus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Otopharynx ovatus "Nkhomo Reef"
  2. FishBase — Otopharynx ovatus (Trewavas, 1935) (SpecCode 2199; size, distribution, egg-eating diet, water parameters)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Otopharynx ovatus (valid name, authorship, type locality 'southern end of Lake Nyasa')
  4. Trewavas, E., 1935 — A synopsis of the cichlid fishes of Lake Nyasa (original description as Haplochromis ovatus)
  5. Oliver, M.K., 2018 — Six New Species of the Cichlid Genus Otopharynx from Lake Malaŵi (genus diagnosis; O. ovatus melanic pattern; collected with O. mumboensis)
  6. The ETYFish Project — Otopharynx (etymology, incl. ovatus 'ovate, egg-shaped')
  7. IUCN Red List — otopharynx-ovatus