Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cunningtonia longiventralis

Cunningtonia longiventralis "Isanga Bay"

Isanga Bay — ee-SAHN-gah BAY (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 Cunningtonia longiventralis account →

Specific to Isanga Bay

  • 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 Cunningtonia longiventralis.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.5 in14 cm standard length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth16–66 ft5–20 m
DietAlgivore — grazes diatoms and fine filamentous algae from the aufwuchs/biocover film on rocks; carries an exceptionally long, coiled intestine
BreedingMaternal (uniparental) mouthbrooder; males build sand bowers at the rock-sand interfacesmall (genus-typical for featherfins; not precisely documented)
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong: dominant males metallic blue with long filamentous pelvic streamers tipped yellow (egg-dummies); females/subordinates plain silvery-grey, often with a dark dorsal-fin blotch
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Isanga Bay population

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

Colour reference: living Isanga Bay fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Cunningtonia longiventralis is the lone species in its genus, a slender, blue-finned "featherfin" cichlid endemic to the southern half of Lake Tanganyika. It belongs to the sand-dwelling Ectodini tribe, but it makes its living an unexpected way: rather than sifting sand, it grazes algae off rocks with a long, looping gut more typical of a Petrochromis than of its featherfin cousins. Males build sand bowers to court females and the species is a maternal mouthbrooder, but it is uncommon in the wild and only sporadically seen in the hobby.

Full Cunningtonia longiventralis account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Cunningtonia longiventralis "Isanga Bay"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cunningtonia longiventralis (species)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cunningtonia (genus)
  4. FishBase — Cunningtonia longiventralis summary
  5. GBIF — Cunningtonia longiventralis (taxon key 2371401)
  6. Konings, A. — Tanganyika Featherfins in their Natural Habitat (Cichlid Press)