Mylochromis sp. "Liemi Small-mouth" "Luwala Reef"

Luwala Reefloo-WAH-lah 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 Mylochromis sp. "Liemi Small-mouth" account →

Specific to Luwala 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 Mylochromis sp. "Liemi Small-mouth".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6.5 in16 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth16–66 ft5–20 m
DietBenthic micro-invertivore, likely selecting smaller prey items given the reduced mouth size (inferred, not directly documented for this form)
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder (presumed, genus-typical)not documented for this form; genus-typical, a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesNo colour account specific to this form has been published; genus-typical pattern of drab females and more strongly coloured breeding males is expected but not documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Luwala Reef population

Mylochromis sp. "Liemi Small-mouth" "Luwala Reef" is the Luwala Reef population of Mylochromis sp. "Liemi Small-mouth", a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Mylochromis sp. "Liemi Small-mouth", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Luwala Reef fish at malawi.si

About the species

Mylochromis sp. "Liemi Small-mouth" is an undescribed haplochromine cichlid recorded from Luwala Reef, on the south-eastern shore of Lake Malawi. Its trade name has no confirmed derivation on record in the sources used here — it does not correspond to any Mylochromis species this author can confirm as validly described — but the descriptive qualifier "small-mouth" plainly flags a proportionally reduced gape relative to the genus's typically longer-snouted, wider-mouthed piscivorous and sand-sifting relatives. It has no formal description, no describing author, and no FishBase entry.

Full Mylochromis sp. "Liemi Small-mouth" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Mylochromis sp. "Liemi Small-mouth" "Luwala Reef"
  2. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — online database (authority for valid fish names; genus Mylochromis)