Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Bathybates fasciatus

Bathybates fasciatus "Kasanga"

Kasanga — kah-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 Bathybates fasciatus account →

Specific to Kasanga

  • 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 Bathybates fasciatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size15.6 in39.7 cm total length
Temperature73–77 °F23–25 °C
pH8–9alkaline
Depth16–525 ft5–160 m
DietPiscivore — chiefly the endemic clupeid sardines Stolothrissa tanganicae and Limnothrissa miodon, plus occasional small cichlids and shrimp
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~30 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak — no dramatic male nuptial coloration; mouthbrooding females are reported as duller than males, a subtle and inconsistent cue
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kasanga population

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

Colour reference: living Kasanga fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Bathybates fasciatus is a silvery, open-water predator endemic to Lake Tanganyika and one of the lake's seven-odd members of the deepwater cichlid tribe Bathybatini. Locally called bangabanga, it spends its life as a wolf among sheep: a cichlid that has evolved to resemble the very sardines it hunts, slipping into their schools to strike from inside. It is one of the few truly pelagic cichlids on Earth, and its biology — sardine-mimicry, deep-water roaming, and a shallow-water nursery — makes it a striking exception to the rock-grazing, territory-holding image most people hold of Tanganyikan cichlids.

Full Bathybates fasciatus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Bathybates fasciatus "Kasanga"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Bathybates fasciatus
  3. FishBase: Bathybates fasciatus
  4. Koblmüller et al. 2019, 'Only true pelagics mix: comparative phylogeography of deepwater bathybatine cichlids from Lake Tanganyika', Hydrobiologia 832:93–103
  5. Koblmüller et al. 2012, 'Evolutionary History of Lake Tanganyika's Predatory Deepwater Cichlids' (Bathybatini), Int. J. Evol. Biol.
  6. FishBase Field Guide: Bathybates fasciatus (diet, schooling)