Tropheops sp. "Masimbwe" "Harbour Island"
Harbour Island — HAR-ber 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 sp. "Masimbwe" account →Specific to Harbour 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 sp. "Masimbwe".
The Harbour Island population
Tropheops sp. "Masimbwe" "Harbour Island" is the Harbour Island population of Tropheops sp. "Masimbwe", 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 sp. "Masimbwe", distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Harbour Island fish at malawi.si →
About the species
Tropheops sp. "Masimbwe" is an undescribed mbuna of the southern reaches of Lake Malawi, recorded from Harbour Island and Thumbi East Island near Monkey Bay south to Kadango, close to where the lake narrows toward its outlet into the Shire River. It is a rock-scraping algae grazer built to the genus’s characteristic blunt, downturned head profile. The trade name marks a locality association rather than a colour pattern. It has no describing author, FishBase record, or IUCN status.
Full Tropheops sp. "Masimbwe" account →