Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Chindongo bellicosus

Chindongo bellicosus "Zimbawe Rock"

Zimbawe Rock — zim-BAH-way ROK (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 Chindongo bellicosus account →

Specific to Zimbawe Rock

  • 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 Chindongo bellicosus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.7 in9.3 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth0–49 ft0–15 m
DietGrazes aufwuchs from rock
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygynous, harem-style, no pair bond)small — a few dozen eggs (genus-typical; not precisely documented)
Sexual dimorphismYesDominant males are deep blue with black cheek/breast and incomplete dark barring on the front half of the body; females and subordinate males are plain beige to bluish with greyer bars and shorter fins.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Zimbawe Rock population

Chindongo bellicosus "Zimbawe Rock" is the Zimbawe Rock population of Chindongo bellicosus, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Chindongo bellicosus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Zimbawe Rock fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Chindongo bellicosus is a small, slender rock-dwelling cichlid (an mbuna) endemic to the southern reefs of Lake Malawi, and it carries an unusual distinction: it is the type species of the genus Chindongo, erected for it in 2016. Its name is Latin for "warlike," and it earns it — both males and females hold and defend feeding territories on the rocks with a ferocity that is striking even by mbuna standards. For decades aquarists knew it only by the placeholder names Pseudotropheus sp. 'elongatus aggressive' and 'elongatus slab.'

Full Chindongo bellicosus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Chindongo bellicosus "Zimbawe Rock"
  2. Chindongo bellicosus — FishBase summary (ID 68971)
  3. Chindongo bellicosus — FishBase (Stockholm mirror)
  4. Catalog of Fishes — Chindongo bellicosus (species record)
  5. Li, S., Konings, A.F. & Stauffer, J.R. 2016. A revision of the Pseudotropheus elongatus species group, with description of a new genus and seven new species. Zootaxa 4168(2):353–381
  6. De Angelo, A.R. 2024. "Success with Chindongo bellicosus." Buntbarsche Bulletin 323:6–11 (abstract, Cichlid Room Companion)