Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Labidochromis pallidus

Labidochromis pallidus "Maleri Island"

Maleri Island — mah-LEH-ree 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 pallidus account →

Specific to Maleri 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 pallidus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.6 in6.7 cm standard length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH7.8–8.3alkaline
Depth3–66 ft1–20 m
DietMicro-predator/omnivore — picks loose Aufwuchs and small invertebrates from rock with forceps-like teeth (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 (pale with bluish-purple wash) with anal-fin egg-spots, females plainer; dimorphism subtle.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Maleri Island population

Labidochromis pallidus "Maleri Island" is the Maleri Island population of Labidochromis pallidus, 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 pallidus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

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

About the species

Labidochromis pallidus is a small, pale rock-dwelling mbuna endemic to Lake Malawi, described in 1982 by Digby Lewis from the Maleri Islands and also recorded around Thumbi West Island in the lake's southwestern arm. Its name means 'pale,' an apt description of a fish that is largely whitish with a faint bluish-purple wash rather than boldly coloured. A member of the forceps-toothed genus that includes the famous 'yellow lab' (Labidochromis caeruleus), it is a quiet invertebrate-picker of the boulder zone, occasionally kept by Malawi-cichlid hobbyists.

Full Labidochromis pallidus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Labidochromis pallidus "Maleri Island"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Labidochromis pallidus Lewis, 1982 (valid name, authorship, type locality, Maleri Islands)
  3. FishBase — Labidochromis pallidus Lewis, 1982 (SpecCode 2338; size, distribution, pH/hardness/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)