Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Chindongo elongatus

Chindongo elongatus "Liuli"

Liuli — lee-OO-lee (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 elongatus account →

Specific to Liuli

  • 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 elongatus.

IUCNNEAR THREATENED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.7 in9.5 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth0–66 ft0–20 m
DietAufwuchs grazer (algae and diatoms bitten from rock biofilm)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygynous, no pair bond)up to ~37 eggs (FishBase); wild clutch data not published
Sexual dimorphismYesMales are larger, more intensely blue-black with bold vertical bars, and carry yellow egg-spot ocelli on the anal fin. Females and non-dominant males are smaller and brownish with weaker barring.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Liuli population

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

Colour reference: living Liuli fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Chindongo elongatus is a small, slender rock-dwelling cichlid (a "mbuna") endemic to Lake Malawi, first described from Mbamba Bay on the Tanzanian shore by Geoffrey Fryer in 1956. In 2016 it was moved to a new genus and is now validly Chindongo elongatus, the species at the heart of a large "elongatus complex" of look-alike algae-grazers. Among hobbyists its name is a notorious source of confusion: most fish traded as "elongatus" are actually geographic colour forms or undescribed relatives, while the true Mbamba Bay species is a comparatively plain little fish reported to be weakly territorial and rather secretive (Konings; IUCN 2018).

Full Chindongo elongatus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Chindongo elongatus "Liuli"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — elongatus, Pseudotropheus Fryer 1956 (type locality Mbamba Bay; lectotype BMNH 1956.9.4.1; valid as Chindongo elongatus per Li et al. 2016)
  3. FishBase — Chindongo elongatus (Fryer, 1956): max 9.5 cm SL; trophic level 2.5; fecundity up to 37 eggs; IUCN NT; FishBase speccode 2363
  4. Li, S., Konings, A.F. & Stauffer, J.R. Jr. (2016) — A revision of the Pseudotropheus elongatus species group (Teleostei: Cichlidae) with description of a new genus and seven new species. Zootaxa 4168(2): 353–381 (genus Chindongo erected; elongatus lectotype confirmed; elongatus transferred)
  5. Fryer, G. (1956) — New species of cichlid fishes from Lake Nyasa. Revue de Zoologie et de Botanique Africaines 53(1–2): 81–111 (original description of Pseudotropheus elongatus from Mbamba Bay)
  6. Seegers, L. (1996) — The identity of Pseudotropheus elongatus, with the description of P. longior from Mbamba Bay, Tanzania. Ichthyological Explorations of Freshwaters 7(2): 97–110 (lectotype designation; coloration at type locality; body-depth diagnosis)