Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · Tanzania

Mtosi Bay

m-TOH-see BAY (approx.)

The atlas records 11 collection-point forms from Mtosi Bay, across 6 genera.

7.5934°S 30.6445°E

Mtosi Bay is a bay on Lake Tanganyika's Tanzanian shore, under 1 km north-north-west of Namansi Reef.

Where it is

Mtosi Bay is on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, in its southern third (295 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Mtosi Point 0.6 mi west · Twiu Point 1.2 mi west · Namansi 2.1 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: Mpulungu (south basin) (~139 km) — Temperature 24.5 °C · pH 8.9 · Conductivity 662 µS/cm · Visibility (Secchi) 11.9 m

This site

Habitatrockyrocks at the bay's entrance and in its shallows

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 (1293 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 (2)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (2)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (8)–MApr: 81 °F mean (81 °F–83 °F), 12 clear satellite daysAMay: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 96 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 256 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 329 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 307 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (77 °F–79 °F), 192 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 72 clear satellite daysONov: 81 °F mean (79 °F–82 °F), 15 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (2)–D
Surface temperature by month near Mtosi 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.

The site

Captions describe rocks in the bay's shallows and name the rocks at its entrance "Loaf of Bread."

Sources
  1. tanganyika.si — Mtosi Bay, Lake Tanganyika, Tanzania: location page and photo gallery (captions by African Diving Ltd, Pam Chin)

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.

Callochromis (1)

Eretmodus (1)

Neolamprologus (5)

Ophthalmotilapia (2)

Telmatochromis (1)

Tropheus (1)

← All collection points