Cobalt Blue Zebra Cichlid
Metriaclima callainos
The "Cobalt Blue Zebra" is one of the dozens of other Pseudotropheus Zebras, which have recently been reclassified and given their own genus: Metriaclima. Males have a soft fluorescent blue ground color, without any vertical bars, and have about 5 egg-spots on their anal fin. Females are a little lighter shade of blue, almost grayish-blue. Adult males reach lengths of 4-5 in.; females are a little smaller than males. They are principally vegetarians, needing lots of vegetable matter in their diet. This mbuna does best in a tank 55-gallons or larger. In the wild, they are found in rocky habitats at depths between 1 and 25 meters near the northwest coast of Lake Malawi, from Kande Island to Ngara and have also been found along the northeast coast between Ikombe and the Ruhuhu River.