Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Labidochromis sp. "Hongi"

Labidochromis sp. "Hongi" "Puulu"

Labidochromis sp. "Hongi" (Hongi Island, Hongi Rocks, Lundo Island, Puulu)

Puulu — poo-OO-loo (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 sp. "Hongi" account →

Specific to Puulu

  • 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 sp. "Hongi".

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesLabidochromis vellicansTrewavas 1935
Scientific size4 in10 cm total length
Temperature73–82 °F23–28 °C
pH7.5–8.5alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 268 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth0–33 ft0–10 m
DietAufwuchs omnivore (algae-leaning)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygynous)~7-18 fry (Knabe 1992)
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong: dominant males electric-blue with yellow-orange dorsal fin and throat; females and subordinate males plain brownish with at most faint yellow in the fins.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Puulu population

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

Colour reference: living Puulu fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Labidochromis sp. 'hongi' is a small, intensely colored rock-dwelling mbuna from the far northeastern shores of Lake Malawi, where dominant males wear an electric-blue body capped by a yellow-to-orange dorsal fin and throat. Despite being one of the most heavily traded Malawi cichlids on the market — sold as the "Hongi," "Red Top Hongi," or "Kimpuma Red" — it has never been formally described and carries no valid scientific name. It is, in the strict sense, a fish known to the hobby long before it was known to science, named after Hongi Island off the Tanzanian coast where its most vivid populations live.

Full Labidochromis sp. "Hongi" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Labidochromis sp. "Hongi" "Puulu"
  2. malawi.si — Labidochromis sp. 'hongi' Hongi Island (M.K. Oliver / Stuart Grant database; photos by Ad Konings)
  3. malawi.si — Labidochromis sp. 'hongi' (species overview & localities)
  4. Artigas Azas, J.M. — 'Labidochromis: Small Cichlids of Lake Malawi's Rocky Reefs' (Tropical Fish Hobbyist, Nov/Dec 2024; reviewed by Ad Konings)
  5. Cichlid Room Companion (cichlidae.com) — Labidochromis species index (sp. 'hongi' listed; undescribed forms)
  6. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Lake Malawi authority)
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