Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tropheops romandi

Tropheops romandi "Domwe Island"

Tropheops romandi (Domwe Island, Mazinzi Reef, Thumbi East Island, Thumbi West Island)

Domwe Island — DOHM-weh 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 Tropheops romandi account →

Specific to Domwe 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 Tropheops romandi.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesTropheops tropheopsdescribed as Pseudotropheus tropheops Regan 1922
Scientific size2.5 in6.3 cm standard length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH7.8–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 179 ppm
Habitat watermoderately soft, alkaline, well-buffered79 ppmLake Malawi
Depth0–82 ft0–25 m
DietGrazes filamentous aufwuchs from rock
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~20–40 eggs (genus-typical; undocumented for this species)
Sexual dimorphismYesMales dark blue-grey with larger anal-fin egg-spots and longer fins; females and juveniles vivid yellow with a black band in the dorsal fin
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Domwe Island population

Tropheops romandi "Domwe Island" is the Domwe Island population of Tropheops romandi, a geographic colour form from the Malawi coast of Lake Malawi in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Tropheops romandi, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

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

About the species

Tropheops romandi is a small, algae-grazing mbuna cichlid endemic to a short stretch of Lake Malawi's southern shore. It is a textbook case of how taxonomy shifts under hobbyists' feet: described in 1979 as a subspecies of Pseudotropheus tropheops, it was later raised to a full species in its own right. Males are slate blue-grey and territorial; females are a clean bright yellow and roam the rocks freely. Most of its tiny native range sits, conveniently, inside Lake Malawi National Park.

Full Tropheops romandi account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops romandi "Domwe Island"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Tropheops romandi (species record)
  3. FishBase — Tropheops romandi summary
  4. FishBase — Tropheops tropheops (congener feeding/behavior reference)
  5. Chavula et al. 2023 — Lake Malawi/Niassa/Nyasa basin: Status, challenges, and research needs (J. Great Lakes Research 49(6):102241)
  6. Chavula et al. 2023 — full article (ScienceDirect)
  7. IUCN Red List — Tropheops romandi "Domwe Island"
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