Petrotilapia tridentiger "Thumbi West Island"
Thumbi West Island — TOOM-bee WEST 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 tridentiger account →Specific to Thumbi West 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 tridentiger.
The Thumbi West Island population
Petrotilapia tridentiger "Thumbi West Island" is the Thumbi West Island population of Petrotilapia tridentiger, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Petrotilapia tridentiger, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Thumbi West Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Petrotilapia tridentiger is the type species of Petrotilapia, a genus of robust, highly specialised algae-scraping mbuna that dominate the wave-washed rocky surf zone of Lake Malawi. Its name — Latin for "three-tooth-bearer" — describes the genus's diagnostic tricuspid teeth, packed in dense rows and built to comb algal turf off rock under the heavy surge that keeps subtler grazers away. Males of the genus are among the most muscular and pugnaciously territorial of the lake's mbuna.
Full Petrotilapia tridentiger account →