Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Chindongo socolofi

Chindongo socolofi "Tumbi Point"

Tumbi Point — TOOM-bee POYNT (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 socolofi account →

Specific to Tumbi Point

  • 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 socolofi.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.7 in12 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth13–49 ft4–15 m
DietAufwuchs-grazing limnivore
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygynous)~10–20 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesSubtle — both sexes are powder blue; males slightly larger, more intensely coloured with crisper black fin margins and anal-fin egg-spots, so venting is usually needed to sex reliably.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Tumbi Point population

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

Colour reference: living Tumbi Point fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Chindongo socolofi, the powder blue cichlid or pindani, is a small rock-dwelling mbuna endemic to the eastern, Mozambican shore of Lake Malawi. Unusually for an mbuna, both sexes wear the same even, pale powder-blue coat with dark fin edges, which together with a comparatively mild temperament has made it one of the most enduring beginner's cichlids in the hobby for half a century. Like all Malawi mbuna it is a maternal mouthbrooder that grazes the algal turf carpeting the lake's rocks and sand, and it has since been reassigned by ichthyologists to the genus Chindongo, though it remains universally known to aquarists under its original name.

Full Chindongo socolofi account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Chindongo socolofi "Tumbi Point"
  2. FishBase — Chindongo socolofi (Pindani)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — socolofi, Pseudotropheus (valid as Chindongo socolofi)
  4. GBIF — Chindongo socolofi (Johnson, 1974)
  5. The ETYFish Project — Pseudocrenilabrinae: Chindongo socolofi etymology (in honor of Ross Socolof)
  6. Johnson, D. S. (1974) — original description of Pseudotropheus socolofi (Today's Aquarist v.1 no.3: 39)