Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Maylandia midomo

Maylandia midomo "Lundo Island"

Lundo Island — LOON-doh 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 Maylandia midomo account →

Specific to Lundo 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 Maylandia midomo.

IUCNNEAR THREATENED · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.9 in9.8 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth3–66 ft1–20 m
DietAufwuchs grazer (diatoms and blue-green algae) plus open-water phytoplankton feeding; enlarged lips aid rock grazing
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderNot published as a figure for this species; modest (zebra-group typical)
Sexual dimorphismYesTerritorial males blue with green highlights and ~5–9 distinct dark bars, no black submarginal band in the dorsal; females duller blue-green with faint bars.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lundo Island population

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

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

About the species

Maylandia midomo is a rock-dwelling mbuna endemic to Lundo Island in the Tanzanian north-east of Lake Malawi, sharing that single small reef system with its relative Maylandia lundoensis. Its name comes from the Swahili for 'lips' — the fish has noticeably enlarged, fleshy lips for the genus, a feature that helps it work the algal film on rock surfaces. Territorial males are a blue fish crossed by distinct dark vertical bars; like several of its congeners it both grazes aufwuchs from clean rock and schools into open water to take phytoplankton.

Full Maylandia midomo account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Maylandia midomo "Lundo Island"
  2. FishBase — Maylandia midomo (Stauffer, Black & Konings, 2013), species summary (SpecCode 67683; max 9.8 cm SL; IUCN NT 22 Jun 2018)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Maylandia midomo (species record; valid name, authorship, type locality Lundo Island, Tanzania)
  4. Stauffer, J.R. Jr., Black, K.E. & Konings, A.F. 2013 — Descriptions of five new species of Metriaclima (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malaŵi, Africa. Zootaxa 3647(1):101–136 (original description; etymology 'lips')
  5. Sciency Thoughts — Five new species of Mbuna from Lake Malaŵi (summary; midomo 66–99 mm, enlarged lips, male/female colour, bar counts, fin formula)
  6. GBIF — Metriaclima midomo Stauffer, Black & Konings, 2013 (occurrence and taxonomy)