Flavus Mbuna (Pseudotropheus flavus) Breeding Guide

Breeding Pseudotropheus flavus: sexing the colourful male, harem setup, mouthbrooding via anal-fin egg spots, a 3-4 week hold and raising fry.

Overview

Pseudotropheus flavus is a small yellow-banded mbuna endemic to Lake Malawi, recorded exclusively at Chinyankwazi Island and Chinyamwezi Reef, and reaching about 9 cm. It is a maternal mouthbrooder and a relatively manageable mbuna to spawn.

Sexing

Males are far more colourful than females, showing brighter colour and the subtle blue that dominant fish develop, while females stay plainer with the species' yellow body and black vertical bars. Because the colour difference is one of intensity rather than a wholly different pattern, sexing is most reliable once a dominant male has fully coloured up. As with related species, a holding female is identified by her bulging mouth and refusal to feed.

Conditioning

Condition the group on a high-quality diet composed mainly of vegetable matter, suited to this largely herbivorous mbuna. Maintain alkaline water at a pH around 8.2-8.5 and a temperature of about 25-27 degrees Celsius (77-80 degrees Fahrenheit).

Breeding Setup

An aquarium of around 90 cm (a 36-inch tank) with flat stones and areas of open substrate provides spawning sites. Keep a harem of one male and at least three females.

Spawning Behavior & Trigger

The male displays around his chosen spawning site to court the females. The female picks up her eggs immediately after laying and receives milt from the male's egg-spotted anal fin, so that fertilisation is completed inside her mouth in the manner typical of Lake Malawi mouthbrooders.

Egg & Fry Care

The female carries the eggs for around three to four weeks before releasing the free-swimming fry, refusing food throughout the holding period. The released fry are large enough to take brine shrimp nauplii, microworm and powdered dried foods from birth, and in a matured tank they will also browse on algae.

Common Challenges

Holding females must be left undisturbed to avoid premature release of the brood, and because the species is recorded only from the restricted localities of Chinyankwazi Island and Chinyamwezi Reef, captive-bred stock should be kept genetically clean. To produce pure fry, keep only this Chindongo-type species in the tank rather than mixing it with other similar yellow-banded mbuna, which would risk hybridisation and the loss of the line's identity.