Gephyrochromis sp. "Sand Black-fin" "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 Gephyrochromis sp. "Sand Black-fin" 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 Gephyrochromis sp. "Sand Black-fin".
The Lupingu population
Gephyrochromis sp. "Sand Black-fin" "Lupingu" is the Lupingu population of Gephyrochromis sp. "Sand Black-fin", 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 Gephyrochromis sp. "Sand Black-fin", 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
Gephyrochromis sp. "Sand Black-fin" is an undescribed cichlid from the southern Tanzanian shore of Lake Malawi, recorded at Lundu and Lupingu. It belongs to a small, poorly known genus of sand-associated mbuna relatives — only two species, Gephyrochromis moorii and Gephyrochromis lawsi, have ever been formally described — and it has never itself received a scientific name. Its trade name records where it lives (over open sand rather than clinging to bare rock, like most mbuna) and a dark marking on its fins used to tell it apart from its close relatives.
Full Gephyrochromis sp. "Sand Black-fin" account →