Lethrinops sp. "Marginatus Liuli" "Liuli"

Liulilee-OO-lee (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 Lethrinops sp. "Marginatus Liuli" account →

Specific to Liuli

  • 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 Lethrinops sp. "Marginatus Liuli".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5 in13 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth26–98 ft8–30 m
DietSand-sifting invertivore, filtering chironomid larvae and other micro-invertebrates from sand through the gill rakers
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; genus-typical, a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesThe trade name implies a contrasting fin-margin colour in breeding males, but the specific pattern is not documented in the sources consulted.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Liuli population

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

Colour reference: living Liuli fish at malawi.si

About the species

Lethrinops sp. "Marginatus Liuli" is an undescribed sand-dwelling cichlid recorded from waters near Liuli, a locality on Lake Malawi’s comparatively short and lightly surveyed Tanzanian shoreline at the northern end of the lake. The first word of the trade name derives from the Latin marginatus, "margined" or "bordered", a descriptor used elsewhere in Malawi cichlid naming for fish whose fins carry a contrasting edge colour, though the sources consulted here do not establish a specific described Lethrinops this population is meant to be compared against. No authority, publication year, FishBase number, or Red List status exists for it.

Full Lethrinops sp. "Marginatus Liuli" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Lethrinops sp. "Marginatus Liuli" "Liuli"
  2. malawi.si — Lethrinops species database
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Lethrinops genus profile
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)