Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Labidochromis ianthinus

Labidochromis ianthinus "Mbenji Island"

Mbenji Island — m-BEHN-jee 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 ianthinus account →

Specific to Mbenji 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 ianthinus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9 cm total length
Temperature73–79 °F23–26 °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; FishBase notes female mouthbrooder)Unrecorded for this species; small Labidochromis typically ~10–30 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMbuna-typical: males brighter (violet-blue) with anal-fin egg-spots, females plainer.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbenji Island population

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

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

About the species

Labidochromis ianthinus is a small mbuna endemic to Lake Malawi, described in 1982 by Digby Lewis and known from the Mbenji Islands in the central part of the lake. Its name means 'violet,' a nod to the bluish-purple cast of the fish, and it belongs to the same forceps-toothed genus as the famous 'yellow lab' (Labidochromis caeruleus). A modest, rock-dwelling micro-predator, it is one of several Labidochromis whose ranges centre on a single offshore island group.

Full Labidochromis ianthinus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Labidochromis ianthinus "Mbenji Island"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Labidochromis ianthinus Lewis, 1982 (valid name, authorship, type data)
  3. FishBase — Labidochromis ianthinus Lewis, 1982 (SpecCode 2333; size, distribution, mouthbrooding, temperature)
  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)