Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cunningtonia longiventralis

Cunningtonia longiventralis "Msalaba"

Msalaba — m-sah-LAH-bah (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 Cunningtonia longiventralis account →

Specific to Msalaba

  • 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 Cunningtonia longiventralis.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.5 in14 cm standard length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth16–66 ft5–20 m
DietAlgivore — grazes diatoms and fine filamentous algae from the aufwuchs/biocover film on rocks; carries an exceptionally long, coiled intestine
BreedingMaternal (uniparental) mouthbrooder; males build sand bowers at the rock-sand interfacesmall (genus-typical for featherfins; not precisely documented)
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong: dominant males metallic blue with long filamentous pelvic streamers tipped yellow (egg-dummies); females/subordinates plain silvery-grey, often with a dark dorsal-fin blotch
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Msalaba population

Cunningtonia longiventralis "Msalaba" is the Msalaba population of Cunningtonia longiventralis, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the north-central part of the lake. It is the same species as Cunningtonia longiventralis, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Msalaba fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Cunningtonia longiventralis is the lone species in its genus, a slender, blue-finned "featherfin" cichlid endemic to the southern half of Lake Tanganyika. It belongs to the sand-dwelling Ectodini tribe, but it makes its living an unexpected way: rather than sifting sand, it grazes algae off rocks with a long, looping gut more typical of a Petrochromis than of its featherfin cousins. Males build sand bowers to court females and the species is a maternal mouthbrooder, but it is uncommon in the wild and only sporadically seen in the hobby.

Full Cunningtonia longiventralis account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Cunningtonia longiventralis "Msalaba"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cunningtonia longiventralis (species)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cunningtonia (genus)
  4. FishBase — Cunningtonia longiventralis summary
  5. GBIF — Cunningtonia longiventralis (taxon key 2371401)
  6. Konings, A. — Tanganyika Featherfins in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)