African Lake Cichlids - Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi is part of the East Africa Rift Valley system (meaning it is located in the rift in East Africa caused by plate tectonics African cut in half) and east located in southern Africa. It is the ninth largest lake in the world and the third largest in Africa with an area of nearly 29600 km. It lies between the countries of Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique. The lake is often called the lake Nyssa as there is still a debate between neighbouring countries. Lake Malawi is composed of a large basin, which lies about 506 km long and 75 km wide at the widest point. The lake is the maximum depth of 700 m and has an average depth of about 292 m. Lake Malawi is unusual because it does not have tides or currents.

The lake is quite hot, with a high temperature of about 72o and with a surface temperature of 75 - 84o. The reason for the 9o F temperature fluctuation is that Lake Malawi is far enough south of the equator to experience final seasonal variations in temperature. The pH is between 7.7 - 8.6, GH varies from 4-6 DH, and KH varies from 6-8 dH.

There are several cichlid major habitats in the lake. The first is the sandy shore is around 70% of the coast. Some plants live in this area, but not much. Haps peacocks and use it as their habitat. The second area is the rocky shore which is the remaining 30% of the coast. Here, there is no vegetation and boulders are stacked on each other. The rocky areas tend to be where the banks have a strong fall. Mbunas that make their habitat (hence the name which means "rock-dweller"). The third area is the river mouths and areas near the coast which are very vegetation. These areas tend to be deep and can also be quite muddy. Finally, areas in deep water ranging from 30 m to 250 m deep are inhabited by some of the biggest predators cichlids.