Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Taeniochromis holotaenia

Taeniochromis holotaenia "Mbenji Island"

Mbenji Island — m-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 Taeniochromis holotaenia 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 Taeniochromis holotaenia.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size8.7 in22 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Depth23–200 ft7–61 m
DietPursuit piscivore (pack hunter)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~100 fry (females at ~20 cm)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales are larger and develop intense sky-blue breeding coloration with yellowish fins; females and non-breeding males retain the silvery-yellow juvenile pattern with the characteristic dark lateral band.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbenji Island population

Taeniochromis holotaenia "Mbenji Island" is the Mbenji Island population of Taeniochromis holotaenia, 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 Taeniochromis holotaenia, 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

Taeniochromis holotaenia is a large, elongate piscivore endemic to Lake Malawi — the sole species in its genus, immediately distinguished by an unbroken dark band that runs the full length of the flank from eye to tail. Where most of the lake's predatory haplochromines are solitary ambush hunters, this fish hunts in packs, sometimes numbering more than a hundred individuals coursing over open sand. Its name says it all: the ancient Greek for 'whole stripe.'

Full Taeniochromis holotaenia account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Taeniochromis holotaenia "Mbenji Island"
  2. FishBase — Taeniochromis holotaenia (Regan, 1922)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Taeniochromis holotaenia (species record, updated 19 May 2026)
  4. GBIF — Taeniochromis holotaenia (Regan, 1922), taxon key 2370418
  5. Baasch, P. — 'Taeniochromis holotaenia (Regan, 1922)' in Konings, A. (ed.), Cichlids Yearbook vol. 2 (Cichlid Press, 1992)
  6. malawi.si — Taeniochromis holotaenia 'Mbenji Island' (Stuart Grant / M.K. Oliver Malawi database)