Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · Tanzania

Polombwe Bay

poh-LOHM-bweh BAY (approx.)

The atlas records 3 collection-point forms from Polombwe Bay, across 2 genera.

8.4267°S 31.1452°E

Polombwe Bay is a bay on Tanzania's Lake Tanganyika shore, about 2 km north-north-east of Bismarck (Kasanga) Bay.

Where it is

Polombwe Bay is on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, in its southern third (352 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Muzi 0.5 mi south-east · Liemba Beach Lodge 0.9 mi south · Molwe 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) (~37 km) — Temperature 24.5 °C · pH 8.9 · Conductivity 662 µS/cm · Visibility (Secchi) 11.9 m

Surface temperature here

Across Mar–Nov, monthly means run 76 °F to 82 °F — coolest in Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1682 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 (3)–FMar: 82 °F mean (81 °F–83 °F), 12 clear satellite daysMApr: 81 °F mean (80 °F–83 °F), 28 clear satellite daysAMay: 79 °F mean (77 °F–81 °F), 161 clear satellite daysMJun: 77 °F mean (76 °F–79 °F), 314 clear satellite daysJJul: 76 °F mean (75 °F–77 °F), 380 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 386 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (76 °F–80 °F), 242 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–82 °F), 117 clear satellite daysONov: 81 °F mean (80 °F–82 °F), 32 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (5)–D
Surface temperature by month near Polombwe 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 — Lake Tanganyika interactive locations map: Polombwe Bay

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.

Altolamprologus (1)

Neolamprologus (2)

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