Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Melanochromis baliodigma

Melanochromis baliodigma "Membe Island"

Melanochromis baliodigma (Border, Chiofu, Gome, Masinje, Membe Island, Tumbi Point)

Membe Island — MEHM-beh 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 Melanochromis baliodigma account →

Specific to Membe 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 Melanochromis baliodigma.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesMelanochromis melanopterusTrewavas 1935
Scientific size3.5 in8.6 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth16–66 ft5–20 m
DietOpportunistic micro-predator (small fish + catfish eggs)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygynous)not reported for the species; genus-typical small Melanochromis ~10-40 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesDominant males darker with bluish iridescence and anal-fin egg-spots; females and subordinate males duller and browner.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Membe Island population

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

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

About the species

Melanochromis baliodigma is a small, blotch-patterned rock-dweller (mbuna) endemic to a single corner of Lake Malawi, where it haunts the broken zone in which sand meets rock around Membe Island. Described in 1997, it is one of the genus's quieter members in the hobby — and one of its more surprising in ecology: rather than rasping algae like a typical mbuna, it works the crevices as an opportunistic micro-predator, taking small fishes and raiding the eggs of brooding catfishes.

Full Melanochromis baliodigma account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Melanochromis baliodigma "Membe Island"
  2. Bowers & Stauffer 1997 — 'Eight new species of rock-dwelling cichlids of the genus Melanochromis (Teleostei: Cichlidae) from Lake Malawi, Africa' (Ichthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 8(1): 49-70)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Melanochromis baliodigma (species record, valid name)
  4. FishBase — Melanochromis baliodigma summary
  5. GBIF — Melanochromis baliodigma Bowers & Stauffer, 1997
  6. The ETYFish Project (C. Scharpf) — Cichlidae: Melanochromis etymology
  7. IUCN Red List — Melanochromis baliodigma "Membe Island"
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