Aquarist Atlas
Collection point · Lake Tanganyika · DR Congo

Tembwe (Deux)

TEHM-bweh DEH-oox (approx.)

Also traded as “Tembe (Deux)”

The atlas records 21 collection-point forms from Tembwe (Deux), across 11 genera.

7.2401°S 30.1192°E

Tembwe (Deux) is a collection point on Lake Tanganyika's DR Congo coast, about 1 km south-east of Kisongwa.

Where it is

Tembwe (Deux) is on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika, in its southern third (270 mi south of the lake's northern tip).

Nearest collection points: Kisongwa 0.6 mi north-west · Kikoti 5 mi north-west · Zongwe 6 mi south

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) (~201 km) — Temperature 24.5 °C · pH 8.9 · Conductivity 662 µS/cm · Visibility (Secchi) 11.9 m

This site

Habitatrockyboulder-and-rock shore below steep hills

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 (1196 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 (5)–FMar: too few clear satellite days (5)–MApr: 81 °F mean (80 °F–83 °F), 11 clear satellite daysAMay: 80 °F mean (78 °F–81 °F), 82 clear satellite daysMJun: 78 °F mean (77 °F–80 °F), 251 clear satellite daysJJul: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 327 clear satellite daysJAug: 77 °F mean (76 °F–78 °F), 284 clear satellite daysASep: 78 °F mean (76 °F–79 °F), 168 clear satellite daysSOct: 79 °F mean (78 °F–80 °F), 50 clear satellite daysONov: 80 °F mean (78 °F–82 °F), 10 clear satellite daysNDec: too few clear satellite days (1)–D
Surface temperature by month near Tembwe (Deux) — 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 the shore as a narrow coastal strip with steep hills in the hinterland. Broken sandstone plates along the shore are described as evidence of a once higher lake level, and numerous boulders and isolated rocks in the shallows provide varied habitat for cichlids.

Sources
  1. tanganyika.si — Tembwe (Deux), Lake Tanganyika, DR Congo: location page and photo gallery (captions by Heinz H. Buscher)

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)

Cyphotilapia (1)

Cyprichromis (1)

Eretmodus (1)

Neolamprologus (9)

Ophthalmotilapia (1)

Paracyprichromis (1)

Petrochromis (2)

Tanganicodus (1)

Tropheus (1)

Xenotilapia (2)

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