Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · Tanzania

File Bay

FEE-leh BAY (approx.)

The atlas records 2 collection-point forms from File Bay, across 2 genera.

7.5105°S 30.5868°E

File Bay is a bay on Tanzania's Lake Tanganyika shore, under 1 km north of Mongwe Boulder.

Where it is

File Bay is on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, in its southern third (289 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Ngosa Point 1.4 mi north-west · Mbofula Points 2.1 mi south-east · Musi Point 2.3 mi north

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: Mpulungu (south basin) (~150 km) — Temperature 24.5 °C · pH 8.9 · Conductivity 662 µS/cm · Visibility (Secchi) 11.9 m

Surface temperature here

Across Apr–Nov, monthly means run 77 °F to 81 °F — coolest in Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1264 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

75°78°81°84°Jan: too few clear satellite days (1)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (1)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (8)–MApr: 81 °F mean (80 °F–83 °F), 13 clear satellite daysAMay: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 92 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 241 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 319 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 305 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (77 °F–79 °F), 194 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 72 clear satellite daysONov: 80 °F mean (79 °F–82 °F), 16 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (2)–D
Surface temperature by month near File Bay — 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 — File Bay, Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania: location page

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.

Cyprichromis (1)

Tropheus (1)

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