Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · Tanzania

Semwe Rocks

SEHM-weh ROKS (approx.)

The atlas records 3 collection-point forms from Semwe Rocks, across 2 genera.

7.8763°S 30.7925°E

Semwe Rocks is a rocky site on Tanzania's Lake Tanganyika shore, under 1 km west of Mbulwe Bay.

Where it is

Semwe Rocks is on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, in its southern third (314 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Popo (Kizumbi) Rocks 1.4 mi south-east · Popo Point 1.7 mi south-east · Lwilwi Island 1.8 mi north-west

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) (~104 km) — Temperature 24.5 °C · pH 8.9 · Conductivity 662 µS/cm · Visibility (Secchi) 11.9 m

This site

Habitatrockyrocky ground west of Mbulwe Bay

Surface temperature here

Across Mar–Nov, monthly means run 77 °F to 82 °F — coolest in Jul. Measured by satellite 1995–2023: the daily median of clear readings within 10 km of the site (1462 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 (3)–JFeb: too few clear satellite days (3)–FMar: 82 °F mean (81 °F–83 °F), 10 clear satellite daysMApr: 81 °F mean (80 °F–83 °F), 19 clear satellite daysAMay: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 112 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (76 °F–80 °F), 285 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 354 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 340 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 222 clear satellite daysSOct: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 87 clear satellite daysONov: 81 °F mean (79 °F–82 °F), 24 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (3)–D
Surface temperature by month near Semwe Rocks — 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: Semwe Rocks

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.

Lobochilotes (1)

Neolamprologus (2)

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