Protomelas sp. "Oxyrhynchus Mix" "Thumbi West Island"
Thumbi West Island — TOOM-bee WEST 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. "Oxyrhynchus Mix" account →Specific to Thumbi West 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. "Oxyrhynchus Mix".
The Thumbi West Island population
Protomelas sp. "Oxyrhynchus Mix" "Thumbi West Island" is the Thumbi West Island population of Protomelas sp. "Oxyrhynchus Mix", 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 sp. "Oxyrhynchus Mix", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Thumbi West Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Protomelas sp. "Oxyrhynchus Mix" is an undescribed Lake Malawi cichlid recorded from Mumbo Island and Thumbi West Island, both within the Lake Malawi National Park at Cape Maclear. Its trade name marks a notably pointed, sharp snout — Greek "oxys" (sharp) and "rhynchos" (snout) — that sets it apart from other Protomelas at these well-studied islands, while "Mix" reflects the mixed, individually variable male breeding colouration reported for the population. It is recognised informally in the field and aquarium literature, and no authority, year, FishBase number, or IUCN status should ever be attached to it.
Full Protomelas sp. "Oxyrhynchus Mix" account →