Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tropheops sp. "Goldbreast"

Tropheops sp. "Goldbreast" "Liutche"

Liutche — lee-OO-tcheh (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. "Goldbreast" account →

Specific to Liutche

  • 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. "Goldbreast".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.5 in11 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.6alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 446 ppm
Depth10–49 ft3–15 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 dimorphismYesGoldbreast-type males (documented for related populations elsewhere in the lake): light blue body with vertical black bars, light blue unpaired fins dappled with yellow, and a yellow-orange throat and pelvic-fin area.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Liutche population

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

Colour reference: living Liutche fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Tropheops sp. "Goldbreast" is an undescribed mbuna cichlid documented along the Mozambique shore of Lake Malawi, at Liutche, Londo Bay, and Tumbi Point. Its trade name refers to the yellow-orange throat and chest area reported in breeding males of this colour type, a pattern documented by Ad Konings among a cluster of similarly named "Goldbreast"-type Tropheops recurring at separate points around the lake. It has never been given a formal scientific description, and no authority, IUCN status, or FishBase entry should be attached to it.

Full Tropheops sp. "Goldbreast" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops sp. "Goldbreast" "Liutche"
  2. Cichlids Yearbook, Volume 3 (Cichlid Press) — geographic "sister population" pattern in Tanzanian/Mozambican rock-dwelling mbuna, including the "Zebra Goldbreast" colour type
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — genus Tropheops
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Fricke, Eschmeyer & Van der Laan, eds., CAS) — searched: no valid name for the undescribed "Goldbreast" form