Valid name: Pundamilia nyererei "Ruti" (Witte-Maas & Witte, 1985)

Synonym: NA

Common name: NA

Location: Lake Victoria (Ruti Island, Tanzania)

Adult male size: 4 1/2 inches (12 cm)

Diet: insectivore/omnivore

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Below picture shows a four year old adult male Pundamilia nyererei Ruti Island:

The nyererei are rock-dwelling insectivores from Lake Victoria.

These are Lake Victoria cichlids that I purchased in 1999. The LFS had them labeled as the Ruti Island color variant, but this may not be correct. Even at a small size it was easy to differentiate the males from the females. I originally bought one male and four females but then bought two more females to try to curb his excessive aggression. Didn't work..... he killed the three smallest females. My male grew to about 4 inches (10 cm) long and the females are around 3 1/4 inches (8 cm) long. He has bred twice with the same female .... unfortunately, the female did not carry the fry to term. Below right, you see the female with the eggs in her mouth.

Well here it is five years later and I still have one male and two female nyererei living in my 55 gallon tank with Astatotilapia aeneocolor. The male is still beautiful but not nearly as aggressive as when he was younger. They never did succesfully breed and have surviving fry, and now they no longer try to breed, from what I've observed.

Above picture shows two mature female nyererei. Note how much darker the female colors have become when get old..

Above picture shows juvenile male on the left and a juvenile female on the right

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