Tropheops tropheops (formerly known as Tropheops sp."broad mouth") is living in reasonable shallow water where they remain in rocky sedimentrich environments, mainly in intermediate zones from rocks to sand. They can be found in the southern part of the lake, on the western coast from Chia Lagoon towards the utmost southern point and from there along the eastern caost up to Minos Reef. There are existing several geographic color variants of this species like this one which can be found in the neighbourhood of Minos Reef. In the lake the males of these species can grow to 12 cm, in the aquarium however they can grow taller because of a good feeding. The males can then grow to about 14 cm, females grow to about 10 cm. Tropheops tropheops can sometimes be pretty intolerant towards male conspecifics, against other inhabitants they are in general tolerant. You can best keep this species with multiple females and other mbunas in an aquarium with a lot of hiding places. In the lake they are mainly feeding themselves with algae from the rocks. In the aquarium they are comfortable with any food. They take everything they get offered, like spirulina pellets, mysis, artemia, cyclops and shrimp-peas mix. Food rich of algae like spirulina pellets or flakes is very important to them so this should not be missing on their menu. |