An mbuna known as either Labidochromis sp. "hongi" or Labidochromis sp. "kimpuma". This is my second time I've kept this species.

Above is a male from a group I bought at a club auction in 2010

And above are several of the females

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Below are the Labidochromis sp. "hongi" I had in the 1990's

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.

The hongi shown below is around six years old. 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.

As you can see there is some color variation in the two groups I've had. 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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