Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis sp. "Flavimanus Lundu"

Copadichromis sp. "Flavimanus Lundu" "Lundu"

Lundu — LOON-doo (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 Copadichromis sp. "Flavimanus Lundu" account →

Specific to Lundu

  • 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 Copadichromis sp. "Flavimanus Lundu".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth10–82 ft3–25 m
DietOpen-water zooplanktivore (utaka)
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder; males build sand-crater nestsnot documented for this population; expected several dozen eggs by genus comparison
Sexual dimorphismYesNot documented in detail for this population. The shared epithet with the related utaka Mchenga flavimanus (Latin 'yellow-handed') suggests yellow colouring on the fins of breeding males, though the precise pattern for this Lundu population is not independently confirmed.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lundu population

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

Colour reference: living Lundu fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Copadichromis sp. "Flavimanus Lundu" is an undescribed utaka documented from Lundu, on the Tanzanian shore of Lake Malawi. Its trade name shares an epithet with Mchenga flavimanus, a related sand-nesting utaka documented from Kande Island in the closely allied genus Mchenga — Latin for "yellow-handed," read in the hobby as pointing to yellow colouring on the fins. This Lundu population circulates under Copadichromis in the field and trade literature rather than Mchenga, and whether it belongs with one genus, the other, or neither with confidence is not established here.

Full Copadichromis sp. "Flavimanus Lundu" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis sp. "Flavimanus Lundu" "Lundu"
  2. malawi.si — Copadichromis species and locality-form database (Konings-based; distribution, biotope)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Copadichromis genus overview (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority)