Protomelas dejunctus "Chinyamwezi Island"

Chinyamwezi Islandcheen-yahm-WEH-zee 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 Protomelas dejunctus account →

Specific to Chinyamwezi 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 Protomelas dejunctus.

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.5 in14 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth16–82 ft5–25 m
DietSand/intermediate-zone invertivore, possibly with algal grazing (genus-typical; not species-confirmed)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (presumed, genus-typical)not documented for this species
Sexual dimorphismYesGenus-typical expectation of strongly coloured breeding males vs. plainer, silvery females; not confirmed species-specifically.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chinyamwezi Island population

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

Colour reference: living Chinyamwezi Island fish at malawi.si

About the species

Protomelas dejunctus is a member of one of Lake Malawi's most aquarium-famous haplochromine genera, home to showy sand-dwelling species such as the Red Empress. This particular species is far less documented than its flashier congeners, known from two neighbouring islands in the southern lake, Chinyamwezi and Chinyankwazi, and it illustrates a common pattern in Malawi cichlid taxonomy: a valid, distinct species that has simply never attracted the same descriptive or hobby attention as its better-known relatives.

Full Protomelas dejunctus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Protomelas dejunctus "Chinyamwezi Island"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Species search (California Academy of Sciences; authority for valid names)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)