Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Pseudotropheus crabro

Pseudotropheus crabro "Chiofu"

Chiofu — chee-OH-foo (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 Pseudotropheus crabro account →

Specific to Chiofu

  • 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 Pseudotropheus crabro.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.5 in14 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth33–148 ft10–45 m
DietFacultative cleanerfish + egg predator; also aufwuchs and plankton
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~20–60 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesFemales and juveniles pale yellow with brown bars; breeding males deepen to near-black with faint blue iridescence. Males are slightly larger at maturity.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chiofu population

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

Colour reference: living Chiofu fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Pseudotropheus crabro, the bumblebee or hornet cichlid, is a stocky mbuna endemic to Lake Malawi, instantly recognized by its bold yellow body crossed with dark-brown to black vertical bars. It leads a double life: by day a scrupulous parasite-picker that removes the fish-louse Argulus africanus from the skin of the giant catfish Bagrus meridionalis, and by night — or whenever the catfish breed — a brazen egg thief that darkens its own coloration to near-black, blending with the cave substrate just long enough to raid the very nests it had cleaned.

Full Pseudotropheus crabro account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus crabro "Chiofu"
  2. Ribbink, A.J. & Lewis, D.S.C. — 'Melanochromis crabro sp. nov.: a cichlid fish from Lake Malawi which feeds on ectoparasites and catfish eggs' (Netherlands Journal of Zoology 32(1), 1982)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Pseudotropheus crabro (Ribbink & Lewis 1982) species record
  4. FishBase — Pseudotropheus crabro summary page
  5. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus crabro species page (M.K. Oliver / Gregor Bauer, Stuart Grant database)
  6. Konings, A. — 'Catfish-Cichlid Interactions in Lake Malawi' (Tropical Fish Hobbyist Magazine)