Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Copadichromis sp. "Lupingu Blue"

Copadichromis sp. "Lupingu Blue" "Lupingu"

Copadichromis sp. "Lupingu Blue" (Lupingu)

Lupingu — loo-PEEN-goo (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. "Lupingu Blue" account →

Specific to Lupingu

  • 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. "Lupingu Blue".

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesCopadichromis quadrimaculatusdescribed as Haplochromis quadrimaculatus Regan 1922
Scientific size5 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth26–82 ft8–25 m
DietOpen-water zooplanktivore (utaka)
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this population; utaka-typical, likely a few dozen eggs per brood
Sexual dimorphismYesNot documented in exhaustive detail for this population, but the trade name points to blue nuptial colouration in breeding males, consistent with the genus-wide pattern in which dominant males colour up while females remain plain and silvery.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lupingu population

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

Colour reference: living Lupingu fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Copadichromis sp. "Lupingu Blue" is an undescribed utaka documented from Lupingu, a collecting village on the Tanzanian shore of Lake Malawi also known for locality forms of Copadichromis borleyi and Copadichromis trewavasae. It has no formal scientific name. Unlike some other Copadichromis trade names in this genus, "Lupingu Blue" borrows no described species’ epithet — it is a locality tag paired with a colour qualifier, one of many named geographic colour forms that make Copadichromis one of the hardest genera in Lake Malawi to sort by eye alone.

Full Copadichromis sp. "Lupingu Blue" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Copadichromis sp. "Lupingu Blue" "Lupingu"
  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)
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