Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Labidochromis heterodon

Labidochromis heterodon "Boadzulu Island"

Boadzulu Island — boh-ah-DZOO-loo 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 heterodon account →

Specific to Boadzulu 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 heterodon.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.9 in7.3 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth3–66 ft1–20 m
DietMicro-predator/omnivore — picks small invertebrates from rock Aufwuchs with forceps-like teeth (genus-typical; trophic level ~2.7)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygynous; inferred from genus)Unrecorded for this species; small Labidochromis typically ~10–30 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMbuna-typical: males brighter with anal-fin egg-spots, females plainer; dimorphism more muted than in L. caeruleus.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Boadzulu Island population

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

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

About the species

Labidochromis heterodon is a small rock-dwelling mbuna endemic to Lake Malawi, described in 1982 by Digby Lewis from the reefs off Boadzulu Island in the lake's southeastern arm. Like its famous congener the 'yellow lab' (Labidochromis caeruleus), it is a member of a genus of slim, forceps-toothed haplochromines that pick tiny invertebrates from the algal turf on rocks. It is one of the more localised Labidochromis, known with certainty from only a handful of southern reefs, and it remains far rarer in the hobby than its golden cousin.

Full Labidochromis heterodon account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Labidochromis heterodon "Boadzulu Island"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Labidochromis heterodon Lewis, 1982 (valid name, authorship, type locality, Boadzulu Island)
  3. FishBase — Labidochromis heterodon Lewis, 1982 (SpecCode 2332; size, distribution, ecology)
  4. 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 (original description)
  5. Maréchal, C., 1991 — Labidochromis, in Check-list of the Freshwater Fishes of Africa (CLOFFA) vol. 4, pp. 210–217
  6. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae: Labidochromis (etymology of genus and epithets)