Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · Tanzania

Frontosa Reef

frohn-TOH-sah REEF (approx.)

The atlas records 2 collection-point forms from Frontosa Reef, across 2 genera.

7.1106°S 30.4622°E

Frontosa Reef is a reef off Tanzania's Lake Tanganyika shore, about 4 km west of Kolwe Point.

Where it is

Frontosa Reef is in open water about 2.5 mi off the eastern shore, in the southern third of Lake Tanganyika (262 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Kolwe Point 2.4 mi east · Silaf Rocks 2.8 mi east · Kemp 2.9 mi 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: Mpulungu (south basin) (~197 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 (1280 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

75°78°81°Jan: too few clear satellite days (3)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (4)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (6)–MApr: 81 °F mean (80 °F–82 °F), 15 clear satellite daysAMay: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 80 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 242 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 322 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 308 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (77 °F–79 °F), 207 clear satellite daysSOct: 79 °F mean (78 °F–80 °F), 75 clear satellite daysONov: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 16 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (2)–D
Surface temperature by month near Frontosa Reef — 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 — Lake Tanganyika interactive locations map: Frontosa Reef

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)

Neolamprologus (1)

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