The endemic, haplochromine, cichlid species flock of Lake Malaŵi represents the most diverse assemblage of fishes of any of the world's freshwater lakes. Of particular interest are the interspecific relationships that permit so many species to coexist in this unique ecosystem. We hypothesized that a detailed study of the feeding associations among three sand-dwelling species,Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis,Cyrtocara moori, andProtomelas annectens, would provide the necessary information needed to determine if these species are effective in harvesting specific food resources.Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalisfeeds by plunging its snout into the sand, engulfing a mouthful of sand, retaining prey items, and expelling the sand through its gills. Immediately afterT. praeorbitalisplunges into the sand, other species, includingC. mooriandP. annectens, move closer and begin to forage on the invertebrates suspended in the water column by the disturbance of the substrate or expelled through the gills ofT. praeorbitalis. The gap between the gill rakers ofT. praeorbitalisis significantly (P< 0.05) wider than that of the other two species; the interraker gaps ofC. mooriandP. annectensare not significantly (P> 0.05) different from each other. MostP. annectensconsumed small Arthropoda and Cladocera (0.3–0.8 mm), whereas mostC. mooriandT. praeorbitalisconsumed chironomids (mean prey size = 4.2 mm). Although there was an association with interraker gap size and prey size whenP. annectensandT. praeorbitaliswere compared, this relationship was not present when the stomach contents and interraker gap ofC. mooriwas contrasted with those of the other two species. Thus, we concluded that differences in prey size among these three species is a function of interraker gap, prey selectivity, and foraging behavior.