Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tropheops sp. "Elongatus Metangula"

Tropheops sp. "Elongatus Metangula" "Nkolongwe"

Nkolongwe — n-koh-LOHN-gweh (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 sp. "Elongatus Metangula" account →

Specific to Nkolongwe

  • 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 sp. "Elongatus Metangula".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4 in10.5 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth7–66 ft2–20 m
DietAlgae grazer (aufwuchs), rasping the algal mat from rock surfaces at a steep, head-down angle characteristic of the genus
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; genus-typical, on the order of a few dozen eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesSexual dichromatism presumed typical for the genus; no specific colour account documented for this population.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkolongwe population

Tropheops sp. "Elongatus Metangula" "Nkolongwe" is the Nkolongwe population of Tropheops sp. "Elongatus Metangula", a geographic colour form from the Mozambique coast of Lake Malawi in the south-central part of the lake. It is the same species as Tropheops sp. "Elongatus Metangula", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Nkolongwe fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Tropheops sp. "Elongatus Metangula" is an undescribed mbuna from Minos Reef and Nkolongwe, on the Mozambique shore of Lake Malawi near Metangula. Like Tropheops sp. "Elongatus Chizumulu" far to the north, it belongs to an informally recognised "elongatus" morphotype within the genus — a slender, more torpedo-shaped body plan than the typical stocky Tropheops build — that recurs independently at separated reefs around the lake. It has never been formally described, and no authority, IUCN status, or FishBase entry should be attached to it.

Full Tropheops sp. "Elongatus Metangula" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops sp. "Elongatus Metangula" "Nkolongwe"
  2. Cichlid Room Companion — genus Tropheops
  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 "Elongatus Metangula" form