Red Top East African Cichlid
Labeotropheus trewavasae 

A great Algae Eater! One of the most interesting things about the genus Labeotropheus is their characteristic curved-over, upper lip.  This is an adaptation that helps them to scrape algae off of rocks.  Their curved lip allows them to scrape the algae from a more horizontal angle.  They have thus adapted to this habitat, whereas other fish that have to approach the rocks from a vertical position are unable to battle the current while in this position.   There are more than forty geographic and color variants of Labeotropheus trewavasae in Lake Malawi.  We offer here the "Red Top" from Thumbi Island!  Currently, it is one of the more common variants in North America, probably due to the bright red dorsal fin.  L. trewavasae come in many varieties of colors, but shades of blue seems most popular.

They spend most of their time near the bottom or hanging around rocks and tolerate other fish to intermingle with them.  The females may spend the majority of their time in the top half of the tank, probably to avoid this dominant male's advances as he will usually always try to spawn.  For this reason we suggest keeping this fish in larger groups, not pairs. 

OB (Orange-Blotched or Blossom) patterns are very common among the Labeotropheus species.  Females almost always sport the OB pattern, and males usually have a solid body color with lighter or different colored fins.  OB males are very rare. Females and males are both equally large, reaching about 5-7 inches.