Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Petrotilapia microgalana

Petrotilapia microgalana "Mbowe Island"

Mbowe Island — m-BOH-weh 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 Petrotilapia microgalana account →

Specific to Mbowe 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 Petrotilapia microgalana.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in11.4 cm standard length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth16–49 ft5–15 m
DietCombs aufwuchs from rock
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderSmall brood of a few dozen (genus-typical; not documented for this species)
Sexual dimorphismYesTerritorial males bright blue with 5-7 faint bars, blue head and yellow-to-orange chest (dark purple-blue with orange chin at Mbowe Island); females light brown to gold; juveniles vivid yellow.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbowe Island population

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

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

About the species

Petrotilapia microgalana is a rock-grazing mbuna cichlid endemic to the northwestern shore of Lake Malawi, described in 2006 from the Nkhata Bay region. Like all members of its genus, it carries broad, fleshy lips bristling with slender tricuspid teeth that stay visible even with the mouth shut, an apparatus built for combing algae off stone. Bright-blue breeding males, gold-to-beige females, and butter-yellow juveniles led aquarists to know it for years simply as the 'small blue' Petrotilapia before science gave it a name.

Full Petrotilapia microgalana account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Petrotilapia microgalana "Mbowe Island"
  2. Petrotilapia microgalana - FishBase species summary
  3. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer), genus/species records via FishBase
  4. Ruffing, Lambert & Stauffer (2006). Description of a new species of Petrotilapia, from Lake Malawi. Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 119(4):534-539
  5. Lundeba, Stauffer & Konings (2011). Five new species of the genus Petrotilapia, Lake Malawi. Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 22(2):149-168 (PDF)
  6. All fishes reported from Malawi - FishBase country checklist