Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Pseudotropheus crabro

Pseudotropheus crabro "Mbamba Islands"

Mbamba Islands — m-BAHM-bah EYE-landz (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 Mbamba Islands

  • 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 Mbamba Islands population

Pseudotropheus crabro "Mbamba Islands" is the Mbamba Islands population of Pseudotropheus crabro, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the 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 Mbamba Islands 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 "Mbamba Islands"
  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)