Maylandia sp. "Red Top Gallireya" "Gallireya Reef"

Gallireya Reefgah-lee-REH-yah 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 Maylandia sp. "Red Top Gallireya" account →

Specific to Gallireya 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 Maylandia sp. "Red Top Gallireya".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4 in10 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth10–66 ft3–20 m
DietAufwuchs grazer (algae, diatoms and associated micro-invertebrates scraped from rock)
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this population
Sexual dimorphismYesMales reportedly carry a red/orange dorsal fin over a blue body ('red top'), per the trade name; females expected duller and more barred, following genus pattern
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Gallireya Reef population

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

Colour reference: living Gallireya Reef fish at malawi.si

About the species

Maylandia sp. "Red Top Gallireya" is an undescribed mbuna from Gallireya Reef, on the northern Malawian shore of Lake Malawi. "Red top" is one of the most widely used descriptive tags in the Malawi cichlid trade, applied independently to many unrelated mbuna populations around the lake whose males carry a red or orange dorsal fin over an otherwise blue body. This population carries that trait at Gallireya Reef specifically. It has not been formally described.

Full Maylandia sp. "Red Top Gallireya" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Maylandia sp. "Red Top Gallireya" "Gallireya Reef"
  2. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 5th ed. (Cichlid Press)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Genus record (authority for valid names; this trade name has no catalog entry)