Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · DR Congo

Cape Tembwe

KAYP TEHM-bweh (approx.)

The atlas records 19 collection-point forms from Cape Tembwe, across 11 genera.

6.5103°S 29.4886°E

Cape Tembwe is a cape on Lake Tanganyika's DR Congo shore, about 3 km north-east of Tembwe.

Where it is

Cape Tembwe is on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika, in its central third (220 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Kambwebwe 11 mi south · Malasa Island 17 mi south-east · Milima 19 mi south-east

Shore, third and distances are measured from the coordinates above against the lake’s mapped outline.

The water

Lake-wide measured chemistry of Lake Tanganyika — collection points share their lake's water; site-specific figures are shown only where the literature records them.

Temperature77–80.6 °F25–27 °C
pH8.6–9.2alkaline
Hardnesshard · 600–690 µS/cm

Nearest measured station: Kigoma (central, east shore) (~182 km) — Temperature 25.7 °C · pH 8.9 · Conductivity 654 µS/cm · Visibility (Secchi) 12.8 m

Surface temperature here

Across May–Oct, monthly means run 77 °F to 80 °F — coolest in Aug. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (993 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

75°77°79°81°Jan: too few clear satellite days (3)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (2)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (3)–MApr: too few clear satellite days (8)–AMay: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 54 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 199 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 289 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 260 clear satellite daysASep: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 124 clear satellite daysSOct: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 43 clear satellite daysONov: too few clear satellite days (7)–NDec: too few clear satellite days (1)–D
Surface temperature by month near Cape Tembwe — dot = mean, bar = typical range (10th–90th percentile), “–” = too cloudy to measure.

Temperature: ESA Climate Change Initiative, Lakes_cci v3.0 (Asfour et al. 2026; doi:10.5285/a56dba09df8a42ec9fba8b8c7a5e1f69). Chemistry on this page remains the lake's own.

Sources
  1. tanganyika.si — Cape Tembwe, Lake Tanganyika, DR Congo: location page and photo gallery

Each entry below is the population of that species recorded here — the form aquarists keep and breed as a distinct, provenance-labelled line. Crossing forms from different collection points is considered hybridisation in the hobby.

Aulonocranus (1)

Chalinochromis (1)

Eretmodus (1)

Julidochromis (1)

Lamprologus (2)

Neolamprologus (8)

Ophthalmotilapia (1)

Petrochromis (1)

Spathodus (1)

Tropheus (1)

Xenotilapia (1)

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