Tropheops sp. "Mauve" "Chitande Island"

Chitande Islandchee-TAHN-deh 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. "Mauve" account →

Specific to Chitande 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. "Mauve".

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
Depth3–39 ft1–12 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 dimorphismYesBreeding males reported a pale purplish-grey (mauve) ground colour; specific pattern detail not documented for this population.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chitande Island population

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

Colour reference: living Chitande Island fish at malawi.si

About the species

Tropheops sp. "Mauve" is an undescribed mbuna cichlid documented from the far northern end of Lake Malawi, at Chirwa Island and Ndumbi Point on opposite sides of the Malawi–Tanzania border, with a further record at Chitande Island. Its trade name refers to the pale purplish-grey tone reported for breeding males, one of the more understated colour schemes among the genus's many locality forms. 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. "Mauve" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops sp. "Mauve" "Chitande Island"
  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 "Mauve" form