Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Pseudotropheus johannii

Pseudotropheus johannii "Border"

Pseudotropheus johannii (Border, Chiloelo, Chilucha Reef, Chiofu, Chuanga, Gome, Liwani, Metangula, Narungu, Nkhungu Point)

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 johannii account →

Specific to Border

  • 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 johannii.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesPseudotropheus williamsidescribed as Chromis williamsi Günther 1894
Scientific size4.5 in11 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)slightly hard to very hard, alkaline161–339 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth10–59 ft3–18 m
DietAufwuchs grazer (algae, diatoms, plankton)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder (polygynous)~10–30 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesStrongly reversed dichromatism: males dark blue-black with two electric-blue stripes; females and juveniles uniform yellow-orange.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Border population

Pseudotropheus johannii "Border" is the Border population of Pseudotropheus johannii, 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 johannii, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Border fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Pseudotropheus johannii, the bluegray mbuna or 'johanni', is a small rock-dwelling cichlid endemic to the eastern shore of Lake Malawi. It is a textbook example of reversed sexual dichromatism: adult males are inky blue-black ruled by two electric-blue stripes, while females and juveniles are a uniform marigold yellow-orange — so different that early aquarists took them for separate species. Long a hobby staple, it is also one of Malawi's most frequently misidentified fish, routinely confused with the near-identical 'maingano' from Likoma Island and burdened with an unsettled genus name that has bounced between Melanochromis and Pseudotropheus for half a century.

Full Pseudotropheus johannii account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus johannii "Border"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Pseudotropheus johannii (Eccles 1973), species record
  3. FishBase — Pseudotropheus johannii (Bluegray mbuna)
  4. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus johannii 'Gome' (M.K. Oliver / Stuart Grant database; data and photos after Ad Konings)
  5. The ETYFish Project — Pseudocrenilabrinae: Pseudotropheus johannii etymology
  6. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species — Melanochromis johannii (blue mbuna)
  7. IUCN Red List — Pseudotropheus johannii "Border"
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