Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Pseudotropheus sp. "Variable Kande"

Pseudotropheus sp. "Variable Kande" "Kande Island"

Kande Island — KAHN-deh 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. "Variable Kande" account →

Specific to Kande 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. "Variable Kande".

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 dimorphismYesNotable for pronounced colour variation among individuals rather than a single fixed male/female pattern; specific morphs present not documented in detail.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kande Island population

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

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

About the species

Pseudotropheus sp. "Variable Kande" is an undescribed mbuna cichlid documented at Kande Island, a well-known collecting locality off the north-central Malawian shore of Lake Malawi. Its trade name reflects the trait it is best known for — pronounced colour variation among individuals — a pattern seen repeatedly across the lake's rock-dwelling mbuna and already documented at other localities under the same "Variable" base name. It has never been given a scientific description of its own, and no authority, IUCN status, or FishBase entry should be attached to it.

Full Pseudotropheus sp. "Variable Kande" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Pseudotropheus sp. "Variable Kande" "Kande 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 "Variable Kande" form