Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Protomelas sp. "Mbenji Thick-lip"

Protomelas sp. "Mbenji Thick-lip" "Mbenji Island"

Protomelas sp. "Mbenji Thick-lip" (Mbenji Island)

Mbenji Island — m-BEHN-jee 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 sp. "Mbenji Thick-lip" account →

Specific to Mbenji 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 sp. "Mbenji Thick-lip".

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesProtomelas kirkiidescribed as Chromis kirkii Günther 1894
Scientific size6.5 in16 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 446 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth7–49 ft2–15 m
DietPresumed mixed aufwuchs/invertebrate feeder, possibly crevice-probing given lip hypertrophy (inferred by analogy with other thick-lipped Malawi cichlids; not directly documented for this form)
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder (inferred from genus/flock)not documented for this form; Protomelas clutches generally run from several dozen to over a hundred eggs depending on body size
Sexual dimorphismYesPresumed male/female colour difference typical of the genus; not documented in detail for this specific population.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbenji Island population

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

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

About the species

Protomelas sp. "Mbenji Thick-lip" is an undescribed haplochromine cichlid recorded from Mbenji Island, an offshore reef in the southern half of Lake Malawi that also carries a distinct, formally documented population of the described Protomelas spilonotus. This form is not that population: it is set apart in field and hobby references by noticeably thickened, fleshy lips, a trait it shares by convergence rather than close kinship with a handful of other Malawi cichlids that independently evolved the same feature. It has never been given a scientific name, and no authority, IUCN status, or FishBase entry should be attached to it.

Full Protomelas sp. "Mbenji Thick-lip" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Protomelas sp. "Mbenji Thick-lip" "Mbenji Island"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — genus Protomelas
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)
Add this species card to your site

Paste this into a product listing, club page or blog post. It shows this species’ size, water ranges and conservation status, kept current from the atlas, with a link to this page. Free to use; keep the link intact, as it is the attribution. How the card works.

<div data-atlas="species/protomelas-sp-mbenji-thick-lip-mbenji-island"><a href="https://www.aquaristatlas.com/species/protomelas-sp-mbenji-thick-lip-mbenji-island/">Protomelas sp. "Mbenji Thick-lip" "Mbenji Island" on Aquarist Atlas</a></div>
<script src="https://www.aquaristatlas.com/embed/v1/card.js" async referrerpolicy="no-referrer"></script>