Pseudotropheus elegans "Itungi"
Itungi — ee-TOON-gee (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 elegans account →Specific to Itungi
- 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 elegans.
The Itungi population
Pseudotropheus elegans "Itungi" is the Itungi population of Pseudotropheus elegans, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Malawi in the far northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Pseudotropheus elegans, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Itungi fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Pseudotropheus elegans is a rock-dwelling mbuna documented from the northern reaches of Lake Malawi, one of many species retained in the genus Pseudotropheus after the large-scale splitting of the old "Pseudotropheus" catch-all into Maylandia, Metriaclima, Chindongo, and other genera. Its Latin name — simply "elegant" — flags a refined body shape or finish that early observers used to distinguish it from coarser-looking rock mbuna sharing the same reefs. Like its relatives it is an algae grazer bound tightly to a home patch of boulders.
Full Pseudotropheus elegans account →