LABIDOCHROMIS CHISUMULAE

[jody]

Has anyone ever had any experience with this fish. I personally think its a beautiful fish, but i cant find much about it, even my favorite website didnt say much about. (fishbase.org)

[b0caj1985]

General

Labidochromis chisumulae is a mouthbrooding Malawian cichlid first typed by Lewis in 1982.

Males are pearly white with dark, navy blue markings on the top part of the body extending from the head halfway through the dorsal fin. Depending on mood, males may exhibit a pronounced blue sheen throughout the body, especially when breeding.

Females are a pearly white to tan-white, with faint stripes on the flanks.

Males get up to about 3 to 3.5". Females are a tad smaller, topping out at 3".
Habitat

As the name suggests, this fish is found in the rocky habitat near Chisumulu Island in Lake Malawi.
Care

Labidochromis chisumulae presents no major problems. Neutral to hard water conditions are fine. I kept mine at pH 7.4, 78F in hard Chicago water.

This fish is moderately aggressive. Males will sometimes pick on females, so provide adequate hiding spots.
Feeding

Labidochromis chisumulae are good eaters. I fed a variety of prepared foods including HBH Graze, Dainichi Veggie FX, New Life Spectrum and Tetra Cichlid Flakes. In the wild, reports indicate that this species picks invertebrates from the biocover. Like other Mbuna, I recommend feeding food containing vegetable matter.
Breeding

My son 14-year-old Sam obtained four juveniles in November, 2006. Sam wanted to know if I wanted them after he spawned them. That's the confidence of youth talking . . .

I had never heard of Labidochromis chisumulae and told him I wasn't interested.

To be perfectly honest, the white-ish looking fish did not impress me and this is what I shared with him. Sam told me I didn't know what I was talking about— not the first time I've heard that from him! Sam said he not only would breed Labidochromis chisumulae, but show me that they were great looking fish.

Not surprisingly, Sam was right. After all, he's bred about 50 species of cichlids and he's only fourteen!

As the fish developed, the male turned out to be an outstanding looking fish. Seriously, Labidochromis chisumulae is one of the best looking Mbuna I've seen! I was happy to be proven wrong and Sam was nice enough to give his "old man" his group after successfully spawning them.

Humbled, but happy about it, I placed the group in a 40-gallon breeder along three Neolamprologus mustax and six Thorachromis callochromis. In short order, two females were holding.

I stripped one female of about fifteen fry at 12 days. The fry are about the same size as other Mbuna fry and are tan-white in color.

At this point, the fry were at the "heads and tails" stage. I placed them in a small, 2-gallon container with a heater and small sponge filter. Five days later they were completely free-swimming and were eating live baby brine shrimp.

After a week, I moved the fry to a 10-gallon grow out tank. At one month, the fry are about 1/2" long and eating flake food.
Retail Price

For adult Labidochromis chisumulae, expect to pay about $15-20 per fish. Juveniles would go for about $10-12.
Availability

Labidochromis chisumulae is seldom available in pet shops, but can be found on several wholesaler's lists.

[jody]

hey thanks, that helps alot, i am actually wanting to breed this fish, i read on fishbase.org that this fish is vulnerable. I would like to breed them and get them out there so maybe other people breed them and maybe it will take some pressure off of the natural population. BUt again thank you for the info.

[jon carman]

I get them every now and then. I have trouble getting rid of them. They look great when they get size, but small they are hard to sell. I wouldn't worry about them being vulnerable, that is in the wild. They aren't common in the hobby, but at the same time they aren't too hard to get. The yellow lab is pretty rare in the wild as well, but there are plenty around. If you decide to get them let me know and I can probably get them pretty cheap on my next order in a week or so.
I won't get them though if you don't want them, because as I said, unless someone wants them up front, I have to hold them for a long time to sell them. They would be about $7