Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Pseudotropheus sp. "Polit"

Pseudotropheus sp. "Polit" "Lions Cove"

Pseudotropheus sp. "Polit" (Lions Cove)

Lions Cove — LY-uhnz KOHV (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. "Polit" account →

Specific to Lions Cove

  • 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. "Polit".

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesPseudotropheus williamsidescribed as Chromis williamsi Günther 1894
Scientific size4 in10 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth10–49 ft3–15 m
DietAufwuchs grazer (algal biocover on rock)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder30–35 eggs per spawn (Borstein, hobbyist record; no wild data)
Sexual dimorphismYesDominant males are icy blue with a black facial mask; females, juveniles and subordinate males are plain brown-grey. Male coloration is rank-dependent and can be lost rapidly when a male is outcompeted.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lions Cove population

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

Colour reference: living Lions Cove fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Pseudotropheus sp. "Polit" is a small, ferociously territorial mbuna cichlid known only from a handful of rocky reefs on the Tanzanian shore of Lake Malawi, where breeding males wear an icy blue body and a strikingly dark face mask. An undescribed form that has circulated in the hobby under the unavailable name "polit", it is one of the most pugnacious mbuna for its size — an attribute that has won it a devoted following in the hobby even as limited wild collecting keeps it scarcer and more expensive than most of its relatives.

Full Pseudotropheus sp. "Polit" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus sp. "Polit" "Lions Cove"
  2. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 4th ed. (Cichlid Press, 2007) — original description by Burgess; type locality Lupingu
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Pseudotropheus: genus page (no record for 'polit'; name is unavailable / nomen nudum)
  4. malawi.si — Lupingu, Lake Malawi, Tanzania (GPS data: Center -10.07397, 34.54019)
  5. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus sp. 'polit' (Lion's Cove image gallery)
  6. Li, J., Konings, A.F. & Stauffer, J.R. Jr. — 'A Revision of the Pseudotropheus elongatus species group with Description of a New Genus and Seven New Species' (Zootaxa 4168, 2016)
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