Taxonomy & naming
Protomelas sp. "Hertae" has not been formally described and has no holotype, authority, publication year or entry of its own in Eschmeyer’s Catalog of Fishes. The name used here is an informal trade/field label and should never be treated as a valid scientific binomial. Protomelas was established by Trewavas in 1935 and substantially revised by Eccles and Trewavas in 1989; the genus remains large and, by the authors’ own acknowledgement, imperfectly resolved, with numerous locality-based colour forms recognised in the hobby and field literature but never formally diagnosed. The epithet "Hertae" takes the Latin feminine genitive suffix "-ae", the form typically used to dedicate a name to a woman — a pattern common in formally described cichlid names — but no published dedication exists for this informal trade name, and the specific person or reason behind it, if any, has not been documented in the accessible literature.
Morphology
Protomelas species generally show a moderately elongated, laterally compressed body typical of sand-and-intermediate-habitat haplochromines, with males in full breeding colour often extremely striking — deep blues, reds or oranges depending on the species — contrasting sharply with plain silvery females. Genus-typical adult size runs from roughly 4.5 in in smaller species to well over 6 in in the larger ones; no formal measurements exist for this undescribed form specifically. Because no description has been published, precise diagnostic characters separating it from other Protomelas cannot be stated with confidence; it is identified in practice by the combination of its recorded localities and whatever distinctive male colour pattern gave rise to the trade name.
Habitat
This form has been recorded across a broad span of the Malawian coast — from Linganjala Reef and Maingano Island in the north-central lake down through the Maleri Islands group to Thumbi West Island in the south — a distribution wide enough that it may represent a genuinely wide-ranging population or several similar-looking populations recorded under one trade name. Protomelas as a genus typically favours the sand-and-rock transition zone and open sandy areas near rocky structure, rather than deep continuous rock. Water conditions follow the lake’s typical profile: warm, hard and alkaline, roughly 75–82 °F and pH 7.7–8.6, at moderate depths broadly in the 16–82 ft range associated with this habitat type.
Feeding
Protomelas as a genus spans a range of feeding strategies, from invertebrate pickers working sand and rock to more specialised piscivores among the larger species, and no dedicated dietary study exists for this undescribed form. Given its association with sand-and-rock intermediate habitat across several localities, the working expectation is a generalist diet of small benthic invertebrates and opportunistic items picked from sand and rock surfaces, following the pattern documented for similarly habitat-associated Protomelas elsewhere in the lake, rather than the more strictly piscivorous mode of the genus’s specialised fish-eating species.
Mating
Like other Protomelas, this form is expected to be polygynous with a lek-like mating system and no pair bond. Many Protomelas males build and defend a bower — a mound, crater or ridge of sand constructed and maintained by the male — as a display site to attract females, a behaviour widespread across sand-associated genera in the lake. Whether this specific population builds bowers has not been documented, but it is a reasonable expectation given the genus’s general habits. A receptive female visits a displaying male’s territory, and courtship follows the quivering, circling pattern typical of haplochromine cichlids before spawning.
Breeding
Protomelas sp. "Hertae" is, like every member of its genus, a maternal mouthbrooder. Following spawning at the male’s territory or bower, the female takes the fertilised eggs into her mouth and incubates them there, typically for three to four weeks, feeding little during this period, before releasing free-swimming fry capable of independent feeding. There is no biparental care beyond fertilisation. Clutch size has not been documented for this specific form; medium to large Protomelas species generally produce clutches ranging from several dozen to well over a hundred eggs depending on female size.
In the aquarium
Protomelas sp. "Hertae" is not established in the trade under a consistent, well-documented husbandry record, so guidance here follows the general template for sand-associated Protomelas. A large tank of at least 59 in suits a genus in which several species reach a substantial adult size, combined with a deep sand substrate that allows natural bower-building behaviour and scattered rockwork for shelter rather than dense continuous rock.
Water chemistry should replicate Lake Malawi: temperature 75–82 °F, pH 7.7–8.6, and moderately hard to hard general hardness maintained consistently. Diet should be varied and include a quality cichlid pellet as the staple supplemented with live or frozen invertebrates such as chironomid larvae, brine shrimp and daphnia; high-fat foods should be minimised given the genus’s general susceptibility to Malawi bloat. As with any undescribed form, mixing stock from different collection points undermines the value of keeping it as a documented locality population.
Conservation
No IUCN Red List assessment exists for this form, and none can until it is formally described. No status, category or year should be attached to it. Sand-and-intermediate-habitat Protomelas across Lake Malawi are exposed to inshore trawling and seine-net fisheries, ornamental collection, and the general pressures of shoreline development and sedimentation, but the wide, scattered distribution recorded for this particular form makes it difficult to say whether it faces concentrated pressure at any one site. The honest position is that its status is entirely unevaluated.