Labidochromis zebroides "Masimbwe Island"
Labidochromis zebroides (Masimbwe Island)
Masimbwe Island — mah-SEEM-bweh 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 zebroides account →Specific to Masimbwe 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 zebroides.
The Masimbwe Island population
Labidochromis zebroides "Masimbwe Island" is the Masimbwe Island population of Labidochromis zebroides, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Labidochromis zebroides, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Masimbwe Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Labidochromis zebroides is a barred, rock-dwelling mbuna documented from Masimbwe Island in Lake Malawi, one of many small-mouthed Labidochromis whose local populations have each earned a distinct name from the lake's fine-grained mosaic of rocky reefs. Its epithet — "zebra-like" — describes a banded pattern reminiscent of the classic barred mbuna made famous by the unrelated "zebra" group of Maylandia and Metriaclima, a case of two different genera converging on a similar warning-and-camouflage stripe pattern independently. Like all Labidochromis it carries the genus's characteristic forceps-like jaw for probing rock crevices, a specialised feeding tool that sets the genus apart from Lake Malawi's more numerous algae-scraping mbuna.
Full Labidochromis zebroides account →