An mbuna known as either Labidochromis sp "hongi" or Labidochromis sp "kimpuma"

Labidochromis sp "hongi" is a rock-dwelling cichlid (mbuna) from near Hongi Island in Lake Malawi. You will often see this cichlid referred to with the common name "red top kimpuma". (Some hobbiests refer to them as Labidochromis sp "kimpuma" which is the name used commonly in europe.) Since this fish is not yet officially classified yet, I suppose both names can be considered equally correct for now.

I've had this hongi for around six years now. At 5 inches long he is a bit longer than the hongi are supposed to grow. His color and his stripes come and go quite a bit depending upon his mood. The females are very bland in comparison to the males. In the picture below he is in a relaxed mood which is much more typical than the pictures at the top of this page.

There are other color variants that look quite a bit different from mine. In those, the striping is more distinct and the dorsal fins are not 100% orange. Since this cichlid is not officially classified yet, I assume that the two color variants might end up being two different species. Some of the hongi have been line bred to bring out more of the red/orange to flow down into the "forehead". Commercially, these line breeds are being called the SRT (Super Red Top) kimpuma. Note that my hongi do not have any stripes continueing into the dorsal fin.

This article talks about the "super red" and the fact that it is a line bred species.

http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/hybridization_and_line_breeding.html

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