Pseudotropheus flavus
by Larry Johnson
First published in the newsletter of the Hamilton and District Aquarium Society
Aquarticles
Pseudotropheus flavus also known by the trade name of dinghani comes from only
two remote islands in Lake Malawi. These two locations are Chinyamwezi Rocks and
Chinyankwazi Island. From Kambiri Point this is about a 2 hour boat ride in one of Stuart
Grant's boats. The water is extremely clear here, because these islands are far from the
mainland. On a perfectly clear day the mainland is only a dark line on the horizon. As
well there are only rocks/boulders covered in algae around these two locations, so there
is nothing really to stir up on the bottom.
This striking yellow and black striped fish is more prevalent around Chinyankwazi
Island and displaying males here are a common site. Females which are more brownish with
stripes can be seen being chased or holding mouthfuls of eggs. There are lots of other
fish here and the diving is great. So far I have spent approximately 3-4 hours underwater
in each location observing this species and others and can't wait to go back. There are
always so many pictures to take and so little time. One could really spend days at each
location and not see everything.
Well, to carry on, I usually do not bring too many fish back from this trip because the
price of a box of fish is just too much after having spent a large amount on the trip
itself, but in 2002 I did.
Ps. flavus was one particular wild fish that was always hard to get. I found
them in Stuart's holding vats and had them hand picked by Jody McManus who was staying
there for 4 months as a CRLCA intern. Jody has a great eye for fish and packed me a
handful of males with lots of females.
Receiving them back here in Canada was no problem. The fish came in through the CRLCA
depot in Guelph and within an hour I had them back to my house and was acclimatizing them
into my tanks. The 15 fish were housed into a fifty gallon tank and within another few
days were starting to show some aggression, so after a week or so the colony was split
into two tanks and then some were sold. The remaining group of 10 fish continued to do
well and within a month all the females were holding eggs.
Twenty days post spawn the females were stripped and the fry with some yolk sac were
scurrying around the bottom of the tank. There was approximately 50-60 fry from this first
group.
Housed in 2½ gallon tanks for about three weeks the fry grew pretty well. They were
fed the usual baby brine shrimp while in this tank and then on Tetra Mini Bits when they
were moved into their larger quarters. It was at about four months of age and the fish
were about 2 inches some males started to show their yellow colouring and occasionally
started to spar with each other.
In my observations with this and some other species that were the first generation from
wild fish (G1) I found that the fry colour up much faster than wild stock and the colour
is better (some male wild stock never really seem to show their best colours at all).
Most of these Ps. flavus were showing adult colour at 5 months and were
starting to breed. By the colours and relatively early breeding of this species they
really could be called "Busy Bees".
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