Taxonomy & naming
Maylandia sp. "Flameback" is a trade label for an undescribed Lake Malawi mouthbrooder. The atlas treats Metriaclima as Maylandia, but the hobby uses Metriaclima, and the GCCA profile first appeared under Pseudotropheus sp. "flameback". Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2004) says it was first imported in 2003. He warns not to confuse it with Haplochromis sp. "flameback", a totally different fish from Lake Victoria. The form is undescribed, so it has no valid name, authority or year.
Morphology
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2004) describes males with an overall yellow cast and some blue-gray on the sides. In breeding dress they show powder-blue dorsal and anal fins, which gives the "flameback" name. Some imports from the Kanjindo Rocks locality show a much stronger line between the yellow and gray parts of the body. Females look very similar, are somewhat smaller, and show the blue dorsal fin weakly or not at all. Sub-dominant males are very hard to tell from females. Males reach about 3.5 in and females about 3 in, so some internet sources call the fish a dwarf.
Habitat
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2004) describes the fish as coming from the Mozambique side of Lake Malawi and says specifics of habitat are not known. He expects it lives on reefs with a lot of rock structure. The only named locality on the page is Kanjindo Rocks, for some imports.
Feeding
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2004) expects the fish to be mainly herbivorous and to feed opportunistically on plankton. He recommends a quality cichlid flake with vegetable content, and fed Jehmco Pure Spirulina, spirulina flakes and cichlid flakes.
Mating
Not documented for this form.
Breeding
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2004) raised ten juveniles with 50% weekly water changes, in a 10 US gal tank up to 1.5 in, then a 40 US gal tank, then a 65 US gal breeding tank at 3 in. They first bred at just under 11 months, but the female dropped the eggs after three days. Three months later, during storms in May 2004, the male spawned with two females within a couple of days. He stripped both females after 11 days of about a dozen eggs each at the heads-and-tails stage. The eggs went into a commercial egg tumbler and the fry were free-swimming at 20 days after spawning. He fed baby brine shrimp for ten days and moved the fry to cichlid flake. The fry reached 0.5 in in five weeks.
In the aquarium
Rick Borstein (GCCA, 2004) says the fish presents no major problems. It is moderately aggressive, so he advises keeping it only with similarly disposed fish. He recommends numerous rocks, clay pots and flat slates, and regular partial water changes. It is not generally in pet stores. Wild males were about $20 online, and F1 and F2 juveniles $4 to $5.
Conservation
An undescribed form has no IUCN category, and none is claimed here. Population and range data for it are not documented in the atlas's sources.