White lethrinops

Care at a glance

Overview

The white lethrinops is a gentle, sand-sifting hap from Lake Malawi, best kept as a harem of one male with several females so the male can display without harassing a single target. It lives on and just above the bottom, taking mouthfuls of sand and filtering out small invertebrates through its gills. It is mild for a Malawi cichlid and mixes well with other calm, open-water species of similar size; avoid boisterous rock-dwelling mbuna that will bully it off the sand. Feed sinking pellets, frozen brine shrimp and mysis, and let food reach the floor. Give it a long tank of around 300 liters or more with a wide sand bed.

In the wild

In Lake Malawi this fish patrols open sand flats, sifting the substrate for food. The tank should copy that: a broad, open floor of soft, fine sand at least a few centimeters deep, with a little rockwork around the edges rather than filling the space. Malawi water is hard and alkaline, so keep it warm at about 24 to 27 C with a pH of roughly 7.5 to 8.5 and good mineral content. Sharp gravel will damage its sifting behaviour, so fine sand is not optional.

Good to know

Lethrinops albus is a member of the family Cichlidae and grows to about 16 centimeters. Females and young are a plain silver-white that hides them on pale sand, while breeding males take on citrus and blue at the nest. Like other Malawi haps it is a maternal mouthbrooder: the female holds fertilised eggs and fry in her mouth for a few weeks. Males scrape shallow sand craters as spawning sites, and breeding is of moderate difficulty in a spacious sand tank.

Did you know

Its plain colour is camouflage. On the clean, pale sand it lives over, a silver-white female is nearly invisible, while a courting male stands out only briefly before fading back into the floor.

Tank mates

White lethrinops is a mostly peaceful, social species that keeps to the bottom. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.

• Atripinnis hap

  Copadichromis atripinnis

  Freshwater

  5.9 in (15 cm)70 gal (265 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Gertrude's peacock

  Aulonocara gertrudae

  Freshwater

  5.1 in (13 cm)74 gal (280 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
• Jackson's utaka

  Copadichromis jacksoni

  Freshwater

  7.1 in (18 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Kaligono

  Nimbochromis polystigma

  Freshwater

  10.2 in (26 cm)74 gal (280 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Intermedius sand hap

  Tramitichromis intermedius

  Freshwater

  6.3 in (16 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
• Four-spot otopharynx

  Otopharynx tetrastigma

  Freshwater

  6.3 in (16 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

Check the full mix in the stocking calculator

Common questions

Related species

• Altus lethrinops

  Lethrinops altus

  Freshwater

  6.3 in (16 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
• Smallmouth lethrinops

  Lethrinops microstoma

  Freshwater

  5.7 in (14.5 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Sulphur-head hap

  Otopharynx lithobates

  Freshwater

  6.3 in (16 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–82°F (24–28°C)
• Altifrons cichlid

  Cribroheros altifrons

  Freshwater

  6.3 in (16 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–84°F (24–29°C)
• Four-spot otopharynx

  Otopharynx tetrastigma

  Freshwater

  6.3 in (16 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)
• Intermedius sand hap

  Tramitichromis intermedius

  Freshwater

  6.3 in (16 cm)79 gal (300 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)