Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Likoma"

Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Likoma" "Maingano Island"

Maingano Island — mah-een-GAH-noh 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. "Spilonotus Likoma" account →

Specific to Maingano 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. "Spilonotus Likoma".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7 in18 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth7–49 ft2–15 m
DietPresumed invertivore, picking small invertebrates from the water column above rocky habitat, by analogy with related spilonotus-group Protomelas
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder (inferred from genus; not separately documented)not documented for this form
Sexual dimorphismYesPresumed sexually dichromatic as in related spilonotus-group Protomelas, with colourful males and plainer, spot-patterned females; a specific published colour account for this population is lacking.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Maingano Island population

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

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

About the species

Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Likoma" is an undescribed haplochromine cichlid recorded from the Likoma Island area in the central-eastern part of Lake Malawi, along with the nearby Chilucha Reef on the Mozambique shore. Like the other "Spilonotus" trade forms scattered around the lake, its name signals a close relationship to the described species Protomelas spilonotus rather than an established taxonomic identity of its own. It has never been formally described, and no authority, IUCN status, or FishBase entry should be attached to it.

Full Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Likoma" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Likoma" "Maingano Island"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — genus Protomelas
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Fricke, Eschmeyer & Van der Laan, eds., CAS) — searched: no valid name for the undescribed "Spilonotus Likoma" form