The Placidochromis Milomo is a more recent discovery in the fish world. Michael K. Oliver of Great Britain discovered this species in 1989. Mr. Oliver chose the name milomo because it’s the name for lips in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi.
The P. Milomo has fleshy protruding lips due to scraping and eating crustaceans off the rocks in Lake Malawi. It also feeds off algae which is tightly stuck to the rocks. Species found in aquariums have smaller lips because they do not need to extract their food from rough surfaces.
Traits of the Placidochromis Milomo
The P. Milomo is a mouth brooding cichlid. In fact, 75% of all Lake Malawi cichlids are mouth brooders. Their natural habitat is the rocky shorelines in water depths ranging from 12 to 100 feet.
In captivity, males grow as long as 10 to 12 inches and females are slightly smaller. Sub-dominant males and all females have a gold body and black stripes. Dominant males have blue coloration on their heads and patches of blue throughout the body.
The Placidochromis Milomo is not known to be an aggressive fish except when the dominant male wants to spawn.
Aquarium Conditions for the Placidochromis Milomo
Due to growing to almost one foot long, a 125-gallon aquarium is the minimum size recommended for a P. Milomo. The water should be kept at 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit and a PH of 7 to 8. The tank should be well-filtered with 50% water changes performed every two weeks.
Placidochromis Milomo are not fussy eaters and can be fed flake food, pellets, tubiflex worms, cichlid sticks, krill, blood worms and a treat of lettuce or zucchini.
The aquarium should be decorated with rockery and driftwood in order to provide hiding places for the fish. When the P. Milomo grows bigger, the rocks should be removed and replaced with large pieces of ceramic drain pipes.
Breeding Placidochromis Milomo
Breeding P. Milomo is similar to breeding Frontosa. These fish start breeding when they are approximately five to seven inches long. They produce approximately 15 eggs during each spawn, which is a low number for cichlids. Because their eggs are very large, it is difficult for females to hold a sizeable number in their mouths.
When released, the fry are approximately ½ inch long, which is large for cichlids. The fry can be immediately fed baby brine shrimp followed by finely ground flake in a week or two. P. Milomo fry grow quickly and within a month, they are almost one inch long.
Because Placidochromis Milomo is a fast swimmer, Michael K. Oliver gave it the nickname Super VC-10 which is a type of aircraft that once flew between London and Malawi.
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