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Photo:xxx
Melanochromiscyaneorhabdos,
adultmale.
A tinydistribution
Asfaras isknown
Pseudotropheusdemasoni
has only a tinydistribution in thewild,na-
melyPomboReef andNdumbi Reef in the
TanzanianpartofLakeMalawi,where these
fishesare foundatdepthsofbetween2and
8m.Itmaybethatspecialconditionsprevail
atthesetwo locationsandpreventthemales
from livingthenormal lifestyleofanmbuna
maledescribed in the introduction.Perhaps
it is thehighlynutritious food supply in the
aquariumthatmakesthespeciessoaggres-
sive there? The small distribution periodi-
cally leads toconcerns that thespeciesmay
beendangeredby collecting for theaqua-
riumhobby,butthese fearshaveprovedun-
justified. It remains a scientific fact that no
fish specieshaseverbecomeextinct as the
result of being collectedaliveand that it is
extremelyunlikely thatanythingof thesort
couldeverhappen.Inanycase,almostall the
Pseudotropheus demasoni
in the trade are
captive-bred.
Longitudinal banding -
Melanochromis
cyaneorhabdos
Many
Melanochromis
species, above all
M.
auratus
,whichhasbeenoneofthemostpo-
pularmbuna for some40years,areabsolu-
telygorgeous.Unlike the vertically striped
Pseudotropheus
andCo,
Melanochromis
usu-
allyhave longitudinal banding.Theabove-
mentionedM.auratus isoneofthemostag-
gressivembunaandhence shouldbe kept
only in largeaquariaandwith robust tank-
mates.Butthere isaspeciesthat isalmostas
peaceful in the aquarium as Pseudotro-
pheusdemasoni is inthewild,namely
Mela-
nochromiscyaneorhabdos,
which isoften to
be found in the tradeunder its old, invalid
tradenameof
M
."maingano".Justas in
P.de-
masoni
,there ishardlyanydifference incolor
between the sexes and in this case too this
isasignof littleornoterritorialitybeingpre-
sent. At the same time
M. cyaneorhabdos
usuallygrows toonly8-9cm long,rarely lar-
ger, and is also suitable for medium-sized
aquaria in this respect.
TheRustyCichlid:
Iodotropheussprenge-
rae
Thiscichlid,which is regardedasendange-
red in thewild (though thishasnothing to
dowith the aquariumhobby), again exhi-
bits no clear differences in colorationbet-
ween the sexes and grows to only 9 cm
long inmalesand7cm in females.
Iodotro-
pheussprengerae
can’t inallhonestybeas-
signed to thembuna as it isn’t tied to any
specialbiotopeand inaddition isanomni-
vore.This fishnever establishes fixed terri-
tories, but lives solitary,withmales trying
their luckwithany female theyencounter.
This lack of territorialitymeans that
Iodo-
tropheussprengerae
canalsobenumbered
among the harmless dwarf cichlids from
LakeMalawi thatarewell suited tosmaller
aquaria.Note that Iodotropheus is regar-
dedasa relict species thatmaywell be si-
milar to the ancestor of all the mbuna.
Hence this“living fossil”isparticularlyvalu-
able forbehavioral observation.
Theyellowbeauty:
Labidochromiscaeru-
leus
"Yellow"
The last species thatwewill takea lookat
in this article is
Labidochromis caeruleus
"Yellow".It too isoneof the largelysexually
monochromaticspecies inwhich themale
doesn’t establish a territory andwhich is
relatively peaceful as a result.
Labidochro-
mis
feedonsmallorganismsandhence re-
presentnocompetition to the truembuna
thatare typicallyaufwuchs-feedersandare
usually tolerated in the territoriesof the lat-
ter. Strictly speaking
L. caeruleus
"Yellow"
isn’t adwarf cichlid at all as oldmales can
grow to11-12cm long in theaquarium.Fe-
males always remain somewhat smaller.
Adultmale
Iodotropheussprengerae.
