Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Haplotaxodon microlepis

Haplotaxodon microlepis "Fulwe Rocks"

Fulwe Rocks — FOO-lweh ROKS (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 Haplotaxodon microlepis account →

Specific to Fulwe Rocks

  • 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 Haplotaxodon microlepis.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size10.2 in26 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth0–33 ft0–10 m
DietPelagic predator on small fish & zooplankton
BreedingBiparental mouthbrooder~20–50 eggs (genus-typical; not precisely documented)
Sexual dimorphismYesSubtle — sexes similar in size and pattern; breeding adults intensify in color rather than diverge in shape
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Fulwe Rocks population

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

Colour reference: living Fulwe Rocks fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Haplotaxodon microlepis is the gentle exception in a tribe of muggers. It belongs to the Perissodini, Lake Tanganyika's notorious scale-eaters, yet this silvery, upturned-mouthed cichlid skips the lacerated-flank diet entirely and feeds on zooplankton and small fish in the open upper waters of the lake. It is also one of the relatively few Tanganyikan cichlids in which both parents take turns carrying the brood in their mouths, a shared-custody arrangement that has made it a favorite subject of behavioral fieldwork and a prized, if uncommon, fish in the hobby.

Full Haplotaxodon microlepis account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Haplotaxodon microlepis "Fulwe Rocks"
  2. Haplotaxodon microlepis — FishBase species summary
  3. Haplotaxodon microlepis Reproduction Summary — FishBase
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Haplotaxodon microlepis (species record)
  5. Haplotaxodon microlepis — Fishipedia species sheet
  6. Koblmüller, Egger, Sturmbauer & Sefc 2007 — Evolutionary history of Lake Tanganyika's scale-eating cichlid fishes (Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.)