Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · DR Congo

Kalemie

kah-leh-MEE-eh (approx.)

The atlas records 1 collection-point form from Kalemie.

5.9200°S 29.1900°E

Kalemie is the main Democratic Republic of Congo port town on Lake Tanganyika, under 1 km south-west of the Lukuga River.

Where it is

Kalemie is on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika, in its central third (179 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Katibili 11 mi south · Kasenge Bay 18 mi north-east · Kibige Island 21 mi north-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) (~125 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 Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (767 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 (2)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (2)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (2)–MApr: too few clear satellite days (2)–AMay: 80 °F mean (79 °F–81 °F), 37 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 152 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 247 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 206 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (76 °F–79 °F), 88 clear satellite daysSOct: 79 °F mean (77 °F–81 °F), 28 clear satellite daysONov: too few clear satellite days (1)–NDec: too few clear satellite days (0)–D
Surface temperature by month near Kalemie — 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

A photograph shows Kalemie seen from the entrance of the Lukuga River.

Sources
  1. tanganyika.si — Kalemie, Lake Tanganyika, DR Congo: location page and photo gallery (captions by Ad Konings)
  2. Konings, A. (2019). Tanganyika Cichlids in their Natural Habitat, 4th Edition. Cichlid Press, El Paso.

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.

Tropheus (1)

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