Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Labidochromis flavigulis

Labidochromis flavigulis "Machili Island"

Machili Island — mah-CHEE-lee EYE-land (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 Labidochromis flavigulis account →

Specific to Machili Island

  • 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 Labidochromis flavigulis.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.7 in6.8 cm standard length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH7.5–8.3alkaline
Depth3–20 ft1–6 m
DietAlgivore; scrapes aufwuchs from rock surfaces
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderSmall broods typical of genus; ~7–18 fry reported for Labidochromis spp. (Knabe 1992 via Artigas Azas 2024); species-specific count not documented
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males develop bright yellow gular region and branchiostegal membranes; females and juveniles share the barred body pattern but lack yellow throat colour.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Machili Island population

Labidochromis flavigulis "Machili Island" is the Machili Island population of Labidochromis flavigulis, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Labidochromis flavigulis, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Machili Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Labidochromis flavigulis, the Chisumulu Pearl, is a small mbuna cichlid endemic to the rocky shallows of Chizumulu Island and its satellite islets in east-central Lake Malawi. Among the roughly two dozen described species of Labidochromis, it stands out for an unusual reason: it is the only member of the genus known to be consistently territorial in the wild, with males defending year-round spawning sites scooped from sandy pockets beneath rocks. That tenacity packed into a fish rarely exceeding 7 cm is a reliable hook for the hobbyist who discovers it.

Full Labidochromis flavigulis account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Labidochromis flavigulis "Machili Island"
  2. Lewis, D.S.C. (1982). A revision of the genus Labidochromis (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 75(3): 189–265
  3. FishBase — Labidochromis flavigulis (Chisumulu Pearl) summary
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Labidochromis flavigulis (species record)
  5. GBIF — Labidochromis flavigulis Lewis, 1982 (Backbone Taxonomy, key 2371655)
  6. ETYFish Project — Family CICHLIDAE (Pseudocrenilabrinae l–o): Labidochromis flavigulis etymology