[2] This critically endangered fish is threatened by habitat loss and competition from introduced species; after the last-known female was killed during a breeding attempt, its conservation received significant international attention as London Zoo launched a media campaign to identify any remaining individuals.

[3] A remnant population was discovered by aquaculture entrepreneur Guy Tam Hyock in 2013, and breeding programs in Madagascar and at Toronto Zoo have resulted in thousands of successful hatchlings.

[5] It was given the species name insolitus (the Latin word for 'queer' or 'unusual') in part because of its peculiar appearance, featuring long tooth- or comb-like structures called cteni on many of its scales.

[3] Two cichlids from another genus, Paretroplus nourissati and P. gymnopreopercularis, along with a round herring, Sauvagella robusta, are restricted to the same region as Ptychochromis insolitus, and may be facing similar risks.

[7] In 2006, London Zoo contacts in Madagascar reported that the Mangarahara River had dried up as a result of dam construction and water diversion for rice farming in the area.

Approximately ten days after the two individuals were moved to a spawning tank, Aquarium Berlin announced that the male cichlid had killed its would-be mate.

[10] After leads from collectors in Venezuela, China, Australia, Canada, and elsewhere did not surface any living cichlids, Zimmerman was contacted by hotelier, tilapia farmer, and "Fish Whisperer" Guy Tam Hyock.