Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Tyrannochromis nigriventer

Tyrannochromis nigriventer "Mbenji Island"

Mbenji Island — m-BEHN-jee 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 Tyrannochromis nigriventer account →

Specific to Mbenji 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 Tyrannochromis nigriventer.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2018
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size11.8 in30 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.7–8.8alkaline
Depth16–98 ft5–30 m
DietPiscivore (hunts mbuna & other small fish)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderNot documented for this species
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males larger (~30 cm) and overall dark metallic blue, anal fin often orange or orange-spotted; females smaller (~20 cm), beige to silvery with the basic melanin pattern and (in the north) strong dark vertical bars.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mbenji Island population

Tyrannochromis nigriventer "Mbenji Island" is the Mbenji Island population of Tyrannochromis nigriventer, 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 Tyrannochromis nigriventer, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Mbenji Island fish at malawi.si →

About the species

Tyrannochromis nigriventer is a large, predatory haplochromine cichlid found only in Lake Malawi, where it hunts smaller fish among sediment-free rocky reefs. Its genus name promises a tyrant, and the fish lives up to it: a stealthy ambush hunter that drifts along the boulders and engulfs unwary mbuna. Comparatively scarce in the wild and rarely seen in the trade, it is routinely sold under the wrong name — its history is tangled with that of its bigger cousin Tyrannochromis macrostoma, the lake's true 'dark-belly'. The IUCN lists it as Least Concern, even as the lake it depends on faces mounting pressure.

Full Tyrannochromis nigriventer account →

Sources

  1. malawi.si — Tyrannochromis nigriventer "Mbenji Island"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Tyrannochromis nigriventer (California Academy of Sciences)
  3. FishBase: Tyrannochromis nigriventer Eccles, 1989
  4. Trewavas, E. (1990). The genus Tyrannochromis Eccles & Trewavas — macrostoma vs nigriventer 'dark-belly' identity, premaxillary pedicel test (in Konings 1990b, Cichlidae BCA 11(3))
  5. Eccles, D.H. & Trewavas, E. (1989). Malawian Cichlid Fishes: The Classification of Some Haplochromine Genera — original description, pp. 101-103
  6. Msukwa et al. (2021). Vulnerability assessment of Lake Malawi's ornamental fish resources to export ornamental trade. Fisheries Research 238:105869