Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Melanochromis sp. "Robustus Mbenji"

Melanochromis sp. "Robustus Mbenji" "Mbenji Island"

Mbenji Island — m-BEHN-jee 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 sp. "Robustus Mbenji" account →

Specific to Mbenji 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 sp. "Robustus Mbenji".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in12 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth7–49 ft2–15 m
DietNot documented for this population; the closely traded Melanochromis robustus is an opportunistic feeder on drifting particles, plankton and algae rather than a systematic aufwuchs grazer
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this population; the described M. robustus produces on the order of a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesExpected to resemble breeding-male M. robustus (dark blue-black with light-blue horizontal stripes plus dark vertical bars and anal-fin ocelli), but not confirmed in a published account for the Mbenji Island population specifically
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbenji Island population

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

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

About the species

Melanochromis sp. "Robustus Mbenji" is an undescribed cichlid recorded at Mbenji Island, in southern Lake Malawi. Its trade name links it to the described species Melanochromis robustus, the largest member of its genus, which it resembles closely enough to be called by that name in the hobby — but the two are recognised as distinct: true M. robustus is known only from Chinyankwazi and Mumbo Islands, a pure shallow-rock habitat, while the Mbenji Island population occupies an intermediate rock-sand habitat and is treated as a separate, undescribed form rather than the same species.

Full Melanochromis sp. "Robustus Mbenji" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Melanochromis sp. "Robustus Mbenji" "Mbenji Island"
  2. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 5th ed. (Cichlid Press)
  3. Konings & Stauffer (2012), Review of the Lake Malawi genus Melanochromis, Zootaxa 3258
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Melanochromis robustus (species record; this trade name has no separate catalog entry)