Eretmodus cyanostictus "Kizike"Tanganyika clown

Eretmodus cyanostictus (Bilila (Kavala) Island, Cameron Bay, Cape Chaitika, Cape Kabogo, Cape Kapembwa, Cape Nangu, Chimba, Chituta Bay, Ifala, Isaba Point, Kala, Kala Island, Kalambo Lodge, Kalepa Island, Kalyeza Bay, Kamakonde, Kampemba Point, Kanena Point, Kantalamba, Kapampa, Kasakalawe, Kasanga, Kasola Island, Katete, Kerenge Island, Kibige Island, Kigoma, Kiku, Kipili, Kisi Island, Kitawe, Kizike, Kombe, Lupota, Lyela, Mamalesa Island, Mbita Island, Milima Island, Moba, Moliro, Molwe, Mpulungu, Mtakuja, Mtosi Bay, Mzungu Beach, Nausingili Island, Nzwema, Taala (Lusembwa) Point, Tembwe Deux, Ulwile Island, Zambia)

Kizike — kee-ZEE-keh (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 Eretmodus cyanostictus account →

Specific to Kizike

  • 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 Eretmodus cyanostictus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesEretmodus cyanostictusBoulenger 1898 · this species
Scientific size3.5 in9 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH7.8–9alkaline
Habitat waterhard · 600–690 µS/cmLake Tanganyika
Depth0–10 ft0–3 m
Dietherbivore — grazes algal aufwuchs from rocks in the wave-washed surge zone
Breedingbiparental mouthbroodersmall, ~10–25 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesweak; sexes very similar — venting needed
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kizike population

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

Colour reference: living Kizike fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Eretmodus cyanostictus, the Tanganyika clown or striped goby cichlid, is a small, stout-bodied fish endemic to Lake Tanganyika that lives where almost nothing else does: the wave-battered surge zone in the first meter or two of water along rocky shores. To survive the surf it has traded buoyancy and swimming ability for a heavy body, a reduced swim bladder, and a habit of hopping over the rocks like a marine goby. Most remarkably for a mouthbrooder, it is a monogamous biparental species in which the female and then the male each carry the brood in turn, a rare arrangement that has made it a favorite subject of behavioral research.

Full Eretmodus cyanostictus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Eretmodus cyanostictus "Kizike"
  2. Eretmodus cyanostictus (Boulenger, 1898) — FishBase species summary
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Eretmodus / cyanostictus entries)
  4. Eretmodus cyanostictus Boulenger, 1898 — GBIF
  5. Morley & Balshine (2003), Reproductive biology of Eretmodus cyanostictus, a cichlid fish from Lake Tanganyika — Environmental Biology of Fishes
  6. Taylor, Morley, Rico & Balshine (2003), Evidence for genetic monogamy and female-biased dispersal in Eretmodus cyanostictus — Molecular Ecology
  7. IUCN Red List — Eretmodus cyanostictus "Kizike"
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