Pseudotropheus perspicax "Hora Mhango"Red top ndumbi

Pseudotropheus perspicax (Charo, Chewere, Chirwa Island, Chitande Island, Hora Mhango, Kakusa, Kaphaso Reef, Katale Island, Luwino Reef, Mara Rocks, Mbowe Island, Mdoka, Mphanga Rocks, Ruarwe)

Hora Mhango — HOH-rah m-HAHN-goh (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 perspicax account →

Specific to Hora Mhango

  • 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 perspicax.

CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesPseudotropheus williamsidescribed as Chromis williamsi Günther 1894
Scientific size4.5 in12 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 446 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth10–66 ft3–20 m
DietAufwuchs grazer (algae, diatoms and associated micro-invertebrates scraped from rock), with opportunistic small invertebrates
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this species; expected a few dozen eggs by comparison with similarly sized congeners
Sexual dimorphismYesExpected genus-typical dichromatism (males more vividly barred/coloured than females) but no species-specific colour description is confirmed.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Hora Mhango population

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

Colour reference: living Hora Mhango fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Pseudotropheus perspicax is a rock-dwelling mbuna known from a run of reefs along the west-central shore of Lake Malawi, roughly the stretch between Mdoka in the north and Mara Rocks in the south. Its Latin name, meaning sharp-sighted or keenly alert, points to a trait long noted in mbuna field surveys: this is a wary fish, quick to vanish into the rocks at the first sign of a diver or a predator. It belongs to a genus that has been whittled down repeatedly by taxonomic revision, as look-alike species were split off into Maylandia, Tropheops, Cynotilapia and Chindongo, leaving today's Pseudotropheus a smaller, tighter group than the catch-all genus aquarists knew a generation ago.

Full Pseudotropheus perspicax account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus perspicax "Hora Mhango"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Pseudotropheus perspicax (species record; authority for valid names)
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost field authority on Lake Malawi rock-dwelling cichlids)
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