Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cyprichromis microlepidotus

Cyprichromis microlepidotus "Mabilibili"

Mabilibili — mah-bee-lee-BEE-lee (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 Cyprichromis microlepidotus account →

Specific to Mabilibili

  • 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 Cyprichromis microlepidotus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.3 in11 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH7.8–9alkaline
Depth16–131 ft5–40 m
Dietzooplankton picker in open midwater
Breedingopen-water maternal mouthbroodersmall, ~5–20 large eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesmales brightly coloured, females plain silvery
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mabilibili population

Cyprichromis microlepidotus "Mabilibili" is the Mabilibili population of Cyprichromis microlepidotus, 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 Cyprichromis microlepidotus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Mabilibili fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Cyprichromis microlepidotus is a slender, open-water cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, one of a small tribe of zooplankton-grazing fish that abandoned the lake's crowded rocky shoreline for the calmer mid-water above it. Described by Max Poll in 1956 and named for its unusually fine scales, it is a maternal mouthbrooder whose males defend invisible three-dimensional territories in open water and shift through yellow, blue, and inky-black color states as they court. Hobbyists call it the smallscale or "micro" Cyprichromis; in a tank it is a placid, jewel-toned shoaler that tries the patience of breeders and the steadiness of anyone's water chemistry.

Full Cyprichromis microlepidotus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Cyprichromis microlepidotus "Mabilibili"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cyprichromis microlepidotus (Poll, 1956)
  3. FishBase — Cyprichromis microlepidotus summary
  4. FishBase — Cyprichromis coloratus (scale-count comparison)
  5. GBIF — Cyprichromis microlepidotus (Poll, 1956), taxon key 2372095
  6. Duftner et al. (2005), Mitochondrial phylogeny of the Cyprichromini (Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.)