Tropheops sp. "Gome Yellow" "Liwani"

Liwanilee-WAH-nee (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. "Gome Yellow" account →

Specific to Liwani

  • 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. "Gome Yellow".

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 — turf and associated diatoms/micro-invertebrates browsed from rock with thick lips and fine teeth
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; genus-typical, 15–30 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males show yellow colouration per the trade name; precise pattern not documented. Females plainer, as typical for the genus.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Liwani population

Tropheops sp. "Gome Yellow" "Liwani" is the Liwani population of Tropheops sp. "Gome Yellow", 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 Tropheops sp. "Gome Yellow", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Liwani fish at malawi.si

About the species

Tropheops sp. "Gome Yellow" is an undescribed mbuna recorded from a tightly clustered stretch of shoreline straddling the Malawi–Mozambique border in the southern lake, including the site of Gome that gives the form its name. Like other Tropheops it is a dedicated rock-scraping algae grazer with the genus’s blunt, downturned head profile, and the "Yellow" in its trade name points to the male colour pattern that distinguishes it from neighbouring Tropheops populations. It has no describing author, FishBase record, or IUCN status.

Full Tropheops sp. "Gome Yellow" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops sp. "Gome Yellow" "Liwani"
  2. malawi.si — Tropheops species database
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Tropheops genus profile
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)