Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tropheops sp. "Lumessi Blue"

Tropheops sp. "Lumessi Blue" "Meponda"

Meponda — meh-POHN-dah (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. "Lumessi Blue" account →

Specific to Meponda

  • 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. "Lumessi Blue".

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
Depth10–66 ft3–20 m
DietAlgae grazer, scraping aufwuchs from rock surfaces using specialised comb-like teeth
Breedingmaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form; expected modest, a few dozen eggs, by analogy with similarly sized Tropheops
Sexual dimorphismYesMature males show a blue body colouration; female colouration not separately documented for this population.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Meponda population

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

Colour reference: living Meponda fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Tropheops sp. "Lumessi Blue" is an undescribed rock-dwelling mbuna recorded from the Meponda area on the Mozambican shore of Lake Malawi. Its trade name refers to a blue body colouration developed by mature males at Lumessi, a specific reef site within the wider Meponda area. Like all Tropheops it grazes aufwuchs from rock using specialised comb-like teeth. It has never been formally described, so it carries no authority, no publication year, no FishBase entry, and no IUCN assessment.

Full Tropheops sp. "Lumessi Blue" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops sp. "Lumessi Blue" "Meponda"
  2. malawi.si — Konings-based Lake Malawi cichlid species and locality database (Tropheops)
  3. Cichlid Room Companion — Malawi cichlid genus and undescribed-form references (Ad Konings, curator)
  4. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press; foremost Malawi field authority)