Kunene Dwarf Happy

Description: body slender to moderately slender; head rather short; mouth small; frontal profile rounded; caudal fin rounded (Ref. 52307).Coloration: body rusty reddish; 10-12 vertical dark bars may be visible on body, depending on behavioral situation; dark horizontal line from eye to corner of mouth, another from eye to posterior edge of opercle; scales on lower body parts with reddish-brown dots at center and often bluish-edged, more obvious in males than in females; rows of reddish maculae or short stripes in dorsal and caudal fins; following Skelton (2001), males turn bright red when courting (Ref. 52307).

Mouthbrooding by females.

Rheophilic (Ref. 52307). Mouth-brooding females (Ref. 7248).

fisheries: ; aquarium: potential

Orthochromis machadoi, the Cunene dwarf happy, is a species of cichlid native to Angola and Namibia, where it is known from the Cunene River system. This species can reach a length of 6.5 centimetres (2.6 in) SL. The specific name of this fish honours the Portuguese zoologist António de Barros Machado (1912-2002) who collected the type in Angola.