# Malawis found in Tanganyika.



## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

A few weeks ago, A melanochromis species thought to be native to lake malawi has been found living in established colonies just off the North coast of the Lake.
Scientists believe it to be either an introduced species, or a melanochromis which had been trapped in the Lake after the two lakes began to dry up, though this explanation being rather unlikely as it has only recently been recorded.
The species is thought to be Melanochromis vermivorus, though it differs from the malawi type in color and in shape, also being more sociable.
The bad news is, species that have previously been recorded in the same part of the lake have misteriously disapeared, and it's thought that this new cichlid is responsable, eliminating most of the North Lakes inhabitants.
There is debate whether or not the species should be controlled, though nobody seems to know exactly how many of them there are.
Scienticts say this species is a serious threat to many native tanganyikan cichlids, but for now they're just being left, and the population may grow until they eradicate many other fish from the lake.
One problem is, this species is a lot more aggressive then most tanganyikan cichlids, and the native fish haven't evolved to deal with such aggressive behaviour.
Only rock dwelling cichlids are under threat however, as these cichlids live in rocky outcrops located near the s**** of the lake.
Many Lamprologus species found at the lakes edge have been driven out or killed, as studies have shown non to be found.
The only two species found to be living in the same area as the Melanochromis, though slightly deeper in the lake are tropheus duboisi, and tropheus moori, explanations are thought to be that this species is quite aggressive compared with most other tanganyikans, and can hold there own against the slightly more aggressive melanochromis.
Hopefully this pest of lake tanganyika will soon either be controlled in numbers, or eradicated completely.


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

Sounds like many of the aquarium owners here. Not understanding what it does when you release your "Pet" into a non-native environment. 

Although it could have happened naturally my guess is man interviened in some way.

Arn't we humans great for distroying things with our ignorance.


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## Georgia Peach (Sep 23, 2005)

wow, interesting article. thanks for posting that! I agree Fish Doc, sounds to me like there was some human intervention someplace down the road.. sad thing - this move could destroy alot of the tang speciies.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

good post. Personally, i am firm believer that the lakes are in some way interconnected through a undiscovered underground waterway of sort. Just in I think Alaska, scientists discovered that two lakes vastly spread apart from one another were interconnected by a deep underground waterway that hadnt ever been discovered until recently. 

But if this was a man introduced mistake, something indeed needs to be done about this quickly.


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## FortWayneFish (Mar 8, 2006)

Hey Denny ( cichlid man ) can you point us to some documented proof? I have searched the Practical fish keeping archives and didn't see any refrence to this. I am not up to date on any other UK magazines...
I am thinking this news would have found its way into one of the other Fish keeping magazines
( TFH, Aquarium Fish, Cichlid News ) by now.. 
But maybe not ...........


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