Lake Malawi Cichlids
Labeotropheus fuelleborni / Metriaclima zebra
Did you know?
The Lake Malawi Cichlid comes in many different sizes and colour forms from grey to white to golden yellow. They even have different specialised teeth and jaws due to their varying diets. As their name suggests they live in the southern African Lake Malawi which is home to around 500 to 1000 different species of fish, over 400 of these are species of cichlids. Lake Malawi is also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique due to the borders of these countries dividing up what is the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system. The lake itself is thought to have formed around 3 million years ago.
Habitat
Lake Malawi, where the cichlids originate from, is in East Africa and it is a very large and deep lake.
Diet
Some are herbivorous and feed on algae on the rocks and logs, some are carnivorous and will feed on the dead skin and parasites on other fish, some will even eat the young of other fish including other cichlids.