Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Petrotilapia genalutea

Petrotilapia genalutea "Masinje"

Masinje — mah-SEEN-jeh (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 Petrotilapia genalutea account →

Specific to Masinje

  • 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 Petrotilapia genalutea.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.1 in13 cm standard length
Temperature73–82 °F23–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth0–66 ft0–20 m
DietCombs aufwuchs from rock
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~20-40 eggs (genus-typical; not individually documented)
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong: territorial males dull blue-grey with orange flanks and yellow throat/cheeks and black submarginal fin bands; females and juveniles pale with two rows of flank spots and a black dorsal band.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Masinje population

Petrotilapia genalutea "Masinje" is the Masinje population of Petrotilapia genalutea, 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 Petrotilapia genalutea, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Masinje fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Petrotilapia genalutea is one of the most widely distributed mbuna in Lake Malawi, a large, thick-lipped algae-comber that grazes the loose fuzz of aufwuchs from rocky and sediment-mixed shallows. Described by A. C. Marsh in 1983 from Monkey Bay, it lends its name to one of the three habitat-and-pattern "groups" into which the genus is informally divided. Males wear a dull blue-grey ground with orange flanks and the yellow throat and cheeks that gave the species its name; females and juveniles are pale with a row of blotches and a black band in the dorsal fin.

Full Petrotilapia genalutea account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Petrotilapia genalutea "Masinje"
  2. Petrotilapia genalutea — FishBase species summary
  3. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Petrotilapia genalutea
  4. Ruffing, Lambert & Stauffer (2006) — Description of a new species of Petrotilapia (P. microgalana), with comparisons to P. genalutea
  5. Lundeba, Stauffer & Konings (2011) — Five new species of Petrotilapia; habitat groups (reported in Practical Fishkeeping)
  6. Konings, A. — Exploring Lake Malawi: Thumbi West Island (Cichlid Press): P. genalutea in intermediate habitats