irstof all,some interestingbackground
informationon theHornet Cichlid.The
specieswasscientificallydescribedbyR
IBBINK
& L
EWIS
in 1982, under the name
Melano-
chromiscrabro.
Itwas later transferred to the
genus
Pseudotropheus
,where it still remains
to thepresentday.
P.crabro
grows toaround
15 cm long in theaquarium,but in the lake
remainsconsiderablysmallerat9-12cm.The
first importations took place at around the
same timeas the scientificdescription, ieat
the beginning of the 1980s. The first
imports for the aquarium hobby were
probably all from the Mbenji Islands, but
the species is significantly more widely
distributed in the southern and central
NEWS113
3
The cichlids of Lake Malawi enjoy considerable popularity among
aquarists.They are extremely colorful andusually easy to keep aswell as
breed.Lesswell known,however, is the fact that someMalawiCichlidsalso
have amazingly interestingbehavior! TheHornet Cichlid,
Pseudotropheus
crabro
, is oneof themost interesting species from thehuge lake.Read all
about it below:
Thedark sideof theHornet
Cichlid
byAndreas Jung
Cichlids fromLakeMalawi
Normally
Pseudotropheus crabro
isbright yellowwithbrownbars. Photo:F.Schäfer
partsof LakeMalawi.
TheHornetCichlid -achameleon
The specificname crabro is the Latinword
for a hornet and refers to the normally
contrasting color pattern of brown stripes
onayellowbackground.But
P.crabro
isalso
able tochange itscoloration lightning-fast,
becoming very dark, even almost
completely black in the case of elderly
specimens. Itwas becauseof the ability to
change color that
P. crabro
was originally
known as
Pseudotropheus
”Chameleo” in
the trade. To the present day the reasons
for this color change remainunstudied.
Acleaner fish
Many of themost popularMalawi Cichlids
areAufwuchs-feeders, inotherwords they
feed on the algae coating the rocks and
anysmallorganisms thisbiocovercontains.
Thishas led to someaquaristsbeingunder
the misapprehension that all mbuna -
mbuna is the name for certain rock-
dwelling cichlid species - are Aufwuchs-
feeders.
Pseudotropheus crabro
doesn't eat
Aufwuchs; it is an opportunistic omnivore
witha focusonplankton.
P.crabro
is found
mainly in and near caves, and by
preference lives where the large catfish
Bagrus meridionalis
has its home. This
commonplaceanddelicious-tastingcatfish
iscalled theKampangoorKampoyoby the
native peoples around LakeMalawi. It can
growup to150cm longbut around50cm
isamoreusual size.TheHornetCichlidacts
as a cleaner fish to the Kampango,
removing fish lice (
Argulus africanus)
from
its skin. Obviously the populations of
P.
crabro
cannot liveon thisfoodsourcealone;
but the largedarkcatfish issoattractive to
P.
crabro
that thecichlideven followsdivers in
black neoprene wetsuits - it apparently
thinks theyarecatfishes!
F
The ability to transform lighting-fast to dark
brown or black has led to the name
”Chameleo”. Photo:FrankSchäfer
Theeggrobber
But
Pseudotropheuscrabro
doesn't justbring
benefits to thecatfishes, it also robs themof
a fair old amount in return. Kampangos
practice brood care, with both parents
guarding the eggs and young, and
