Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Baileychromis centropomoides

Baileychromis centropomoides "Isanga"

Baileychromis centropomoides (Isanga, Kansombo Banks, Mpulungu market)

Isanga — ee-SAHN-gah (approx.)

The fish

How this cichlid is built, and everything about how it lives, eats and breeds, is shared with the species — this page doesn't repeat it.

Read the full Baileychromis centropomoides account →

Specific to Isanga

  • Collection locality & coordinates
  • Local coloration — best judged from the living-fish photo
  • Kept as a single-provenance line, never crossed with other collection points

Care facts below are the species' — shared with Baileychromis centropomoides.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesBaileychromis centropomoidesdescribed as Leptochromis centropomoides Bailey & Stewart 1977 · this species
Scientific size6.5 in16.8 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 357 ppm
Habitat waterhard · 600–690 µS/cmLake Tanganyika
Depth131–328 ft40–100 m
DietDeep-water predator (fish/invertebrates)
BreedingSubstrate spawner (presumed biparental; undocumented)Undocumented (genus-typical for deep-water Limnochromini)
Sexual dimorphismMinimalNo clear external sexual dimorphism documented; males in the type series reach a slightly larger maximum size than the holotype female
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Isanga population

Baileychromis centropomoides "Isanga" is the Isanga population of Baileychromis centropomoides, a geographic colour form from the Zambia coast of Lake Tanganyika in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Baileychromis centropomoides, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Isanga fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Baileychromis centropomoides is a deep-water cichlid found only in Lake Tanganyika, and one of the least-seen fish in the entire lake. Pulled up from 130–330 ft over soft mud, it carries a long, broadly flattened snook-like snout and trailing dorsal spines unlike any other Tanganyikan cichlid. Ad Konings has gone so far as to call it possibly 'the rarest Tanganyika cichlid' — a reputation that owes as much to where it lives as to how scarce it truly is.

Full Baileychromis centropomoides account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Baileychromis centropomoides "Isanga"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Baileychromis centropomoides (CAS)
  3. FishBase — Baileychromis centropomoides summary
  4. FishBase — Baileychromis centropomoides field guide (depth/diagnosis)
  5. Bailey & Stewart 1977 — Cichlid fishes from Lake Tanganyika (orig. description, via CRC)
  6. Biodiversity Data Journal 2024 — African cichlid morphology/taxonomy (Limnochromini, Baileychromis)
  7. IUCN Red List — Baileychromis centropomoides "Isanga"
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