Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Julidochromis popelini

Chalinochromis popelini "Cape Tembwe"

Julidochromis popelini (Cape Tembwe, Kambwebwe)

Cape Tembwe — KAYP TEHM-bweh (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 Julidochromis popelini account →

Specific to Cape Tembwe

  • 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 Julidochromis popelini.

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesChalinochromis brichardiPoll 1974
Scientific size6 in15 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 446 ppm
Habitat waterhard · 600–690 µS/cmLake Tanganyika
Depth10–98 ft3–30 m
DietPicks invertebrates & biocover from rocks
BreedingBiparental substrate/cave spawner~30–60 eggs (genus-typical; popelini clutch poorly documented)
Sexual dimorphismYesModest: males grow somewhat larger than females; no reversed size dimorphism (unlike the undescribed Tanzanian 'bifrenatus' form).
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Cape Tembwe population

Chalinochromis popelini "Cape Tembwe" is the Cape Tembwe population of Chalinochromis popelini, a geographic colour form from the Democratic Republic of the Congo coast of Lake Tanganyika in the north-central part of the lake. It is the same species as Chalinochromis popelini, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Cape Tembwe fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Julidochromis popelini is a cream-bodied, rock-dwelling cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, described by aquarium importer Pierre Brichard in 1989 and named for a Belgian officer who died on the lake's shores. It is one of those fish that sits awkwardly on the line between two genera: morphologically and behaviorally it bridges the bridled Chalinochromis and the elongate Julidochromis, and recent molecular work has pushed it formally into the latter. In the wild it is a quiet, pair-bonding aufwuchs-picker of the rocky littoral; in a tank it is a handsome but uncompromisingly territorial fish that tolerates almost nothing of its own kind.

Full Julidochromis popelini account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Chalinochromis popelini "Cape Tembwe"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — popelini, Chalinochromis (current status Julidochromis popelini)
  3. FishBase — Chalinochromis popelini summary
  4. FishBase — Chalinochromis popelini field guide / distribution (IUCN status: Not Evaluated)
  5. GBIF — Chalinochromis popelini Brichard, 1989
  6. Konings, A. 2023. 'The rise and fall of Chalinochromis'. Buntbarsche Bulletin 318:6-13 (abstract)
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