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

Tropheops sp. "Membe" "Mbweca Rocks"

Mbweca Rocks — m-BWEH-cah ROKS (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. "Membe" account →

Specific to Mbweca Rocks

  • 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. "Membe".

CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4 in10 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 (short algal turf cropped from wave-washed rock with thick, fleshy lips)
BreedingMaternal mouthbroodernot documented for this form
Sexual dimorphismYesExpected genus-typical dichromatism (bright territorial males, duller females); this form's specific colour pattern is not formally described
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbweca Rocks population

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

Colour reference: living Mbweca Rocks fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Tropheops sp. 'membe' is an undescribed rock-dwelling mbuna documented from the Likoma-Chizumulu island group in the middle of Lake Malawi and the nearby Mozambique shore, a compact archipelago region that is home to a number of distinct, narrowly distributed Tropheops forms. It is known to hobbyists only by this trade name; the origin of the name itself is not confirmed here, and no formal scientific description exists.

Full Tropheops sp. "Membe" account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tropheops sp. "Membe" "Mbweca Rocks"
  2. Konings, A. — Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 5th ed. (Cichlid Press)
  3. Konings, A. — Cichlids Yearbook, Vols. 3 & 6 (Cichlid Press) — geographic patchiness of Malawi mbuna colour forms; rarity of interspecific hybridisation in the lake
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Genus record (authority for valid names; this trade name has no catalog entry)