Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Ornatus"

Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Ornatus" "Likoma Island"

Likoma Island — lee-KOH-mah 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. "Elongatus Ornatus" account →

Specific to Likoma 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. "Elongatus Ornatus".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth10–59 ft3–18 m
DietAlgae/Aufwuchs grazer specialised for narrow rock crevices
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest given smaller body size
Sexual dimorphismYesNot documented in fine detail for this population; genus-typical pattern is males more intensely coloured than females, on a more patterned ('ornatus') base than plain elongatus-complex forms.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Likoma Island population

Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Ornatus" "Likoma Island" is the Likoma Island population of Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Ornatus", 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. "Elongatus Ornatus", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

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

About the species

Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Ornatus" is an undescribed mbuna cichlid from the Likoma Island area of Lake Malawi, recorded at Likoma Island itself and at Ndumbi Rocks nearby. It has no formal scientific name. The trade tag places it in the elongatus complex — the slender-bodied, crevice-feeding lineage within Chindongo — and flags it as an "ornatus" type, more patterned than the plainer brown forms in the same complex. A separate, similarly patterned population from Tanzanian waters further north carries the qualifier "Tanzania" to keep the two apart; this unqualified "Elongatus Ornatus" is the Likoma-area population. It belongs to Chindongo, the genus Ad Konings split from Pseudotropheus in 2016.

Full Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Ornatus" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Chindongo sp. "Elongatus Ornatus" "Likoma 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)