Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · Tanzania

Isonga

ee-SOHN-gah (approx.)

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

6.4481°S 30.1379°E

Isonga is a village on Tanzania's Lake Tanganyika shore.

Where it is

Isonga is on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, in its central third (216 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Kalugunga 6.2 mi south-east · Kalya 8.7 mi west · Kasongola 12 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) (~183 km) — Temperature 25.7 °C · pH 8.9 · Conductivity 654 µS/cm · Visibility (Secchi) 12.8 m

This site

Habitatrockyrocky shore just south of the village

Surface temperature here

Across Apr–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 (1073 clear days). The rainy-season months are usually too cloudy to measure and are left blank.

76°78°80°82°Jan: too few clear satellite days (3)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (2)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (3)–MApr: 80 °F mean (78 °F–82 °F), 10 clear satellite daysAMay: 79 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 64 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (78 °F–80 °F), 218 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 295 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 262 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (76 °F–79 °F), 156 clear satellite daysSOct: 79 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 51 clear satellite daysONov: too few clear satellite days (7)–NDec: too few clear satellite days (2)–D
Surface temperature by month near Isonga — 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.

The site

The shore just south of the village is rocky.

Sources
  1. tanganyika.si — Isonga, Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania: location page and photo gallery (captions by Ad Konings, Carsten Thorleif Stabel)

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.

Cyphotilapia (1)

Tropheus (1)

← All collection points