Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Protomelas spilopterus

Protomelas spilopterus "Mdoka"

Mdoka — m-DOH-kah (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 spilopterus account →

Specific to Mdoka

  • 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 spilopterus.

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size9.4 in24 cm total length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth—not recorded
DietSuspected paedophage — eggs and larvae of other cichlids, inferred from mouth and pharyngeal structure (trophic level ~3.3)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (mouthbrooding by females recorded in FishBase)Not specifically recorded
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males more colourful than females, per the typical Malawi-hap pattern; detail poorly documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mdoka population

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

Colour reference: living Mdoka fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Protomelas spilopterus is a cichlid endemic to Lake Malawi, described by Ethelwynn Trewavas in 1935 and later placed in the genus Protomelas. The largest of its genus covered here, reaching around 24 cm, it is an uncommon, lake-wide fish whose mouth and pharyngeal anatomy suggest it is a paedophage — a predator on the eggs and fry of other cichlids. Its name, 'spotted-wing,' refers to spotting on its fins. Its taxonomic placement has been debated, with some authors moving it to the genus Hemitaeniochromis, but Catalog of Fishes keeps it in Protomelas.

Full Protomelas spilopterus account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Protomelas spilopterus "Mdoka"
  2. Trewavas, E. 1935 — A synopsis of the cichlid fishes of Lake Nyasa. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 10) 16:65–118 (original description of Haplochromis spilopterus)
  3. FishBase — Protomelas spilopterus (Trewavas, 1935) (size, suspected paedophagy, mouthbrooding, distribution)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Protomelas spilopterus (valid name, type data, generic history)
  5. Eccles, D.H. & Trewavas, E. 1989 — Malawian Cichlid Fishes: the Classification of some Haplochromine Genera (transfer to Protomelas; lectotype)
  6. Dierickx, K. & Snoeks, J. 2020 — Protomelas krampus, a new paedophagous cichlid from Lake Malawi. European Journal of Taxonomy 672:1–18 (detailed comparison with P. spilopterus)