Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Pseudotropheus sp. "Aggressive Grey"

Pseudotropheus sp. "Aggressive Grey" "Masimbwe Island"

Masimbwe Island — mah-SEEM-bweh EYE-land (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 sp. "Aggressive Grey" account →

Specific to Masimbwe Island

  • 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 sp. "Aggressive Grey".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4 in10 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth7–49 ft2–15 m
DietAlgae grazer (Aufwuchs), scraping the algal mat and associated microfauna from rock surfaces
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest (a few dozen eggs), genus-typical
Sexual dimorphismYesBoth sexes predominantly grey; the extent of dichromatism between males and females has not been documented in detail for this form.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Masimbwe Island population

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

Colour reference: living Masimbwe Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Pseudotropheus sp. "Aggressive Grey" is an undescribed mbuna cichlid from the rocky waters around Likoma Island in central Lake Malawi. Its trade name describes exactly what collectors and aquarists have found notable about it: a drab, largely grey body colour paired with a temperament that stands out even among the notoriously combative Pseudotropheus. It has never been given a formal scientific name, and no authority, IUCN status, or FishBase entry should be attached to it.

Full Pseudotropheus sp. "Aggressive Grey" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus sp. "Aggressive Grey" "Masimbwe Island"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — genus Pseudotropheus
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Fricke, Eschmeyer & Van der Laan, eds., CAS) — searched: no valid name for the undescribed "Aggressive Grey" form