Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Placidochromis electra

Placidochromis electra "Likoma Island"

Likoma Island — lee-KOH-mah 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 Placidochromis electra account →

Specific to Likoma 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 Placidochromis electra.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6.7 in17 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth7–164 ft2–50 m
DietFollower invertivore — picks exposed invertebrates from sand disturbed by digging cichlids
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~50 eggs (FishBase); ~70 in one recorded aquarium spawn (malawi.si)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales become deep blue to blue-black with egg-spot anal fin markings; females are silver-sand and several centimetres smaller. Both sexes carry the diagnostic dark cheek bar at all times.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Likoma Island population

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

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

About the species

Placidochromis electra, the deep water hap, is a large, electric-blue haplochromine cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, where it ranges along the eastern shore and around Likoma Island over open sand. It is a bold visual fish in a lake full of colourful cichlids, yet its most distinctive quality is behavioural rather than cosmetic: instead of digging for its own food, it shadows large sand-sifting species — chiefly Taeniolethrinops praeorbitalis — and plucks exposed invertebrates from the furrows they plough. That alliance between a luminous blue follower and a massive, industrious excavator is one of the more vivid feeding partnerships in the Malawi cichlid community.

Full Placidochromis electra account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Placidochromis electra "Likoma Island"
  2. Burgess, W.E. 1979. Studies on the family Cichlidae: 9. Haplochromis electra, a new species of cichlid from the waters around Likoma Island, Lake Malawi. Tropical Fish Hobbyist 27(8): 91–94
  3. FishBase — Placidochromis electra (Deep-water hap)
  4. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer) — Placidochromis electra species record
  5. ETYFish Project — Family Cichlidae: Subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae (p–y): Placidochromis electra etymology
  6. Konings, A. 1991. Blue Sand-Dwellers in Lake Malawi. Cichlids Yearbook vol. 1 (Cichlid Press)