Petrotilapia sp. ‘yellow chin’
Petrotilapia sp. ‘yellow chin’ is a still undescribed species. They are closely related to Petrotilapia tridentiger.
Description
The male’s body is blue. They have a yellow spot on the throat and around the lips. The males often show egg spots on the dorsal and anal fins. The females are dull brown/gray. They can reach a total length of about 12 to 17 centimeters. Because we sometimes feed them too often and too strong food in the aquarium, they sometimes grow up to 19 centimeters in the aquarium.
Males are very territorial. In the wild, they protect a den among the rocks and chase away all other males from the area. Passing females are often approached to mate.
Origin
Petrotilapia sp. ‘yellow chin’ is native to Lake Malawi. They are found among others near the islands of Maleri, Namalenje and Mbenji. They can also be found between Makanjila and Chuanga in Mozambique. They live there mainly in the shallow transitional habitats. This species has few geographical variations.
The male occupies a territory among the rocks. The females live solitary lives and wander around the territories of the males.
Diet
The diet of Petrotilapia sp. ‘yellow chin’ consists mainly of algae. With their teeth they comb through the aufwuchs. In the aquarium, therefore , give them a diet consisting mainly of vegetable food such as spirulina flakes and , for example, granules for herbivores.
The Aquarium
It is best to keep Petrotilapia sp. ‘yellow chin’ in a harem . That means one male with two or more females. That way the man has to divide his attention among the women. A woman alone gets too much attention and is constantly hounded by the man.
Set up the aquarium with sand on the bottom and lots of rocks, just like in the transition biotope. Preferably cover the rocks with a good layer of algae so that Petrotilapia sp. ‘yellow chin’ can graze in them. Because this species can grow quite large and chase females a lot, we recommend an aquarium of at least 200 centimeters in length.
Breeding Petrotilapia sp. ‘yellow chin’
Like almost all Malawi cichlids, Petrotilapia sp. ‘yellow chin’ is a mouthbreeder. The eggs are incubated by the female in her mouth. After about three weeks she releases the young fish. You can raise them after this with crushed flake food.
Author
John de Lange
Copyright images
Mark Thomas – Marks Fiskenarie
References and Sources
Malawicichliden in hun Natuurlijke omgeving 3e oplage – Ad Konings
Malawi.si
