Pseudotropheus sp. "Tursiops Mbenji" "Mbenji Island"

Mbenji Islandm-BEHN-jee 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. "Tursiops Mbenji" account →

Specific to Mbenji 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. "Tursiops Mbenji".

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 and associated diatoms/micro-invertebrates rasped from rock
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; genus-typical, a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesPresumed present, following the near-universal mbuna pattern of brighter dominant males; the specific colour pattern of this population is not documented.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbenji Island population

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

Colour reference: living Mbenji Island fish at malawi.si

About the species

Pseudotropheus sp. "Tursiops Mbenji" is an undescribed mbuna recorded from Mbenji Island, an offshore island in the central-western part of Lake Malawi well known among hobbyists for its dense mbuna populations. Its trade name borrows the genus name of the bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops, a naming convention seen elsewhere in Malawi cichlids for fish with a rounded, grey-blue profile. It has no describing author, no FishBase page and no IUCN assessment.

Full Pseudotropheus sp. "Tursiops Mbenji" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus sp. "Tursiops Mbenji" "Mbenji Island"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — genus Pseudotropheus
  3. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)