Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Labidochromis textilis

Labidochromis textilis "Hai Reef"

Hai Reef — HAH-ee REEF (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 textilis account →

Specific to Hai Reef

  • 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 textilis.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth10–49 ft3–15 m
DietCrevice-picking insectivore / small-crustacean picker
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodersmall — genus-typical ~7–18 fry (Konings, citing Knabe 1992 for L. sp. 'Hongi'); no clutch count published for textilis
Sexual dimorphismYesMales are more boldly patterned (deeper cross-hatch, blue-black darkening in breeding colour) and typically larger; females remain paler yellowish-white. Anal-fin egg-spots are more prominent in males.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Hai Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Hai Reef fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Labidochromis textilis is a small, forceps-mouthed mbuna of Lake Malawi's east-central coast, named for a body pattern so neatly cross-hatched it reminded its describer of woven cloth. Distributed along a comparatively long stretch of intermediate rocky habitat from Undu Reef in Tanzania south to Metangula in Mozambique, it forages on small invertebrates it picks from the crevices and leaf-litter pockets of shallow reefs — a dietary niche shared with a handful of congeners whose pointed snouts give them access where broader-mouthed cichlids cannot follow. Although quietly attractive and readily kept, it has never become a mainstream aquarium fish, and the trade knows it — when it appears at all — by the hobbyist alias 'Exasperatus.'

Full Labidochromis textilis account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Labidochromis textilis "Hai Reef"
  2. Oliver, M.K. (1975) — 'Labidochromis textilis, a new cichlid fish (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi', Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 88(29): 319–330 (original description)
  3. FishBase — Labidochromis textilis Oliver, 1975
  4. Cichlid Room Companion (CRC) — Labidochromis textilis species profile (Oliver 1975 citation; type locality; conservation status)
  5. malawi.si — Labidochromis textilis (Lumbaulo and Hai Reef populations; photography by Ad Konings)
  6. malawi.si — Undu Point location page (GPS coordinates −12.06056, 34.593185; habitat described as shallow intermediate reef)