Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Mylochromis incola

Mylochromis incola "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 Mylochromis incola 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 Mylochromis incola.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.8 in19.9 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth—not recorded
DietBenthic invertivore — invertebrates and probably insect larvae from decaying material around rocks and plant roots (FishBase)
BreedingMaternal (ovophilous) mouthbrooder; polygynous, no pair bondnot published for this species; a few dozen eggs inferred from similarly-sized congeners (FLAGGED as undocumented)
Sexual dimorphismYesGenus-typical: territorial breeding males develop bright nuptial coloration (warm 'golden' tones per the trade name); females and non-breeding males cryptic. Species-specific dimorphism not separately documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbenji Island population

Mylochromis incola "Mbenji Island" is the Mbenji Island population of Mylochromis incola, 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 Mylochromis incola, 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

Mylochromis incola is a haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, where it lives in shallow, vegetated inshore habitat throughout the lake. Described by Ethelwynn Trewavas in 1935, its name — Latin for 'inhabitant' — is thought to allude to its life among the lake's Vallisneria beds. Reaching about 20 cm, it forages for invertebrates and probably insect larvae among the decaying material around plant roots and rocks, and is exported in modest numbers for the aquarium trade under the name 'golden mola hap.'

Full Mylochromis incola account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Mylochromis incola "Mbenji Island"
  2. FishBase — Mylochromis incola (Golden mola hap)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Mylochromis incola species record (spid 37812; valid; orig. Haplochromis incola; type locality eastern shore of SE Arm)
  4. The ETYFish Project — Cichlidae part 4: Mylochromis incola etymology (perhaps for occurrence in Vallisneria beds)
  5. Trewavas, E. (1935) — A synopsis of the cichlid fishes of Lake Nyasa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (10)16 (original description of Haplochromis incola)
  6. Derijst, E. & Snoeks, J. (1992) — Maravichromis Eccles and Trewavas, 1989, a junior synonym of Mylochromis Regan, 1920. Cybium 16(2): 173