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

Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Tanzania" "Lundu"

Lundu — LOON-doo (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 Tanzania" account →

Specific to Lundu

  • 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 Tanzania".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size8 in20 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth3–20 ft1–6 m
DietInvertivore, picking small invertebrates from the open water column stirred up over wave-exposed rocky coasts
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males brilliant blue with a white-edged dorsal fin and deep yellow-orange lower body and peduncle; females and non-territorial males grey-brown with three rows of spots.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lundu population

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

Colour reference: living Lundu fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Tanzania" is an undescribed haplochromine cichlid from the rocky northeastern coast of Lake Malawi, first exported to the aquarium trade in 1992 and known ever since by a trade name that flags its closest described relative: Protomelas spilonotus. Breeding males are a brilliant, saturated blue with a broad white band along the dorsal fin margin and a deep yellow-orange lower body and peduncle, one of the more striking colour combinations among the lake's open-water rock-cichlids. It has never been given a scientific name of its own, and no authority, IUCN status, or FishBase entry should be attached to it.

Full Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Tanzania" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Tanzania" "Lundu"
  2. Cichlids Yearbook, Volume 4 (Cichlid Press) — first export history, habitat, feeding, and colour description of Protomelas sp. "Spilonotus Tanzania"
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — genus Protomelas
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Fricke, Eschmeyer & Van der Laan, eds., CAS) — searched: no valid name for the undescribed "Spilonotus Tanzania" form