Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Protomelas annectens

Protomelas annectens "Malopa"

Malopa — mah-LOH-pah (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 Protomelas annectens account →

Specific to Malopa

  • 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 Protomelas annectens.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.9 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth0–33 ft0–10 m
DietOpportunistic invertivore — follows sand-sifting cichlids
BreedingMaternal (ovophilous) mouthbrooder; polygynous, no pair bond~40 eggs per experienced female (keeper records)
Sexual dimorphismYesDominant males turn pale to medium blue (intensifying in courtship); females and subdominant males are silver-grey with a dark horizontal lateral stripe and faint vertical barring.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Malopa population

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

Colour reference: living Malopa fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Protomelas annectens is a mid-sized, sand-dwelling haplochromine endemic to Lake Malawi, recognised for an unusual feeding strategy: rather than digging for invertebrates itself, it follows large sand-sifting cichlids and harvests the small prey they expose. Described by Regan in 1922 and transferred to the genus Protomelas by Eccles and Trewavas in 1989, it is one of the few conspicuously blue cichlids that inhabits open sandy ground lake-wide, from the shallows down to at least 10 metres. Its name is a clue to its taxonomic history — annectens, Latin for 'linking', marks the position it was once thought to occupy between two other Malawi genera.

Full Protomelas annectens account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Protomelas annectens "Malopa"
  2. FishBase — Protomelas annectens (Regan, 1922)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Protomelas annectens; lectotype BMNH 1921.9.6.211 (Eccles & Trewavas 1989)
  4. GBIF — Protomelas Eccles & Trewavas, 1989 (genus; taxon key 2371485)
  5. The ETYFish Project — Family CICHLIDAE: Subfamily PSEUDOCRENILABRINAE (p–y): Protomelas / annectens
  6. Konings, A. — Cichlids Yearbook vol. 1 (Cichlid Press): blue sand-dwellers of Lake Malawi incl. P. annectens