Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Chindongo sp. "Aggressive Zebra Likoma"

Chindongo sp. "Aggressive Zebra Likoma" "Maingano Island"

Maingano Island — mah-een-GAH-noh EYE-land (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 sp. "Aggressive Zebra Likoma" account →

Specific to Maingano Island

  • 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 sp. "Aggressive Zebra Likoma".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4 in10 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth7–49 ft2–15 m
DietAlgae/Aufwuchs grazer, rasping filamentous algae and associated invertebrates from rock
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest (genus-typical, a few dozen eggs)
Sexual dimorphismYesBoth sexes carry the barred zebra pattern; males intensify barring and colour intensity when displaying or sparring.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Maingano Island population

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

Colour reference: living Maingano Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Chindongo sp. "Aggressive Zebra Likoma" is an undescribed mbuna cichlid from the Likoma Island archipelago in the eastern-central part of Lake Malawi, recorded at Maingano Island and Ndumbi Rocks. It has no formal scientific name. The trade tag layers three pieces of field shorthand together: a barred, "zebra"-type colour pattern, a reputation for combative territorial behaviour that exceeds the mbuna norm, and the Likoma locality that distinguishes it from similarly patterned, similarly pugnacious forms elsewhere in the lake. It belongs to Chindongo, the genus of small rock-dwelling algae grazers that Ad Konings split from Pseudotropheus in 2016, and it is one of several barred locality forms in that group still awaiting formal description.

Full Chindongo sp. "Aggressive Zebra Likoma" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Chindongo sp. "Aggressive Zebra Likoma" "Maingano Island"
  2. malawi.si — Chindongo species and locality-form database (Konings-based; distribution, biotope)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Chindongo genus and mbuna taxonomy (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority)