Protomelas sp. "Virgatus Luwala" "Luwala Reef"
Luwala Reef — loo-WAH-lah REEF (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. "Virgatus Luwala" account →Specific to Luwala Reef
- 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. "Virgatus Luwala".
The Luwala Reef population
Protomelas sp. "Virgatus Luwala" "Luwala Reef" is the Luwala Reef population of Protomelas sp. "Virgatus Luwala", 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. "Virgatus Luwala", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Luwala Reef fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Protomelas sp. "Virgatus Luwala" is an undescribed haplochromine recorded from Luwala Reef in Lake Malawi, a locality that also carries a distinct, documented population of the described Protomelas spilonotus. This form is grouped instead with the "virgatus" trade tag, after the described Protomelas virgatus, on the basis of resemblance rather than confirmed identification, and it should be treated as its own separate, unnamed population at Luwala Reef. It has never been given a scientific name; no authority, IUCN status, or FishBase entry should be attached to it.
Full Protomelas sp. "Virgatus Luwala" account →