Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus stappersi

Lamprologus meleagris "Cape Tembwe"Pearly shell-dweller

Neolamprologus stappersi (Bilila (Kavala) Island, Cape Tembwe, Kitumba, Milima Island, Moba)

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 Neolamprologus stappersi 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 Neolamprologus stappersi.

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesLamprologus congoensisSchilthuis 1891
Scientific size3 in7 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Habitat waterhard · 600–690 µS/cmLake Tanganyika
Depth0–33 ft0–10 m
DietBenthic micro-predator; feeds chiefly on insect larvae and small invertebrates gleaned from sand and shell debris (trophic level ~3.6)
BreedingSubstrate spawner; eggs deposited inside empty Neothauma snail shellsSmall clutches laid deep inside a snail shell; female broods for roughly 10–12 days
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger with a longer, less steeply sloped facial profile; females smaller and more subdued in color
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Cape Tembwe population

Lamprologus meleagris "Cape Tembwe" is the Cape Tembwe population of Lamprologus meleagris, 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 Lamprologus meleagris, 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

Neolamprologus stappersi is a small shell-dwelling cichlid from the Congolese shoreline of Lake Tanganyika, still sold almost everywhere as Lamprologus meleagris or "pearly ocellatus" for its guineafowl-like speckling. The two names belong to one fish: Pellegrin described stappersi in 1927, Büscher described the same species again as meleagris in 1991, and Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes now treats meleagris as a junior synonym, so the older name stands. Whatever the label on the tank, it is a sand-and-shell specialist that breeds inside empty snail shells and defends them with a feistiness out of all proportion to its two-and-a-half-inch frame.

Full Neolamprologus stappersi account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lamprologus meleagris "Cape Tembwe"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lamprologus meleagris (current status: synonym of Neolamprologus stappersi)
  3. FishBase — Lamprologus meleagris summary
  4. GBIF — Lamprologus stappersi Pellegrin, 1927
  5. FishBase — Lamprologus stappersi summary
  6. Büscher, H.H. 1991. Neue Schneckencichliden aus dem Tanganjikasee: Lamprologus meleagris n. sp. und L. speciosus n. sp. DATZ 44(6):374–382 (record via Cichlid Room Companion)
Add this species card to your site

Paste this into a product listing, club page or blog post. It shows this species’ size, water ranges and conservation status, kept current from the atlas, with a link to this page. Free to use; keep the link intact, as it is the attribution. How the card works.

<div data-atlas="species/lamprologus-meleagris-cape-tembwe"><a href="https://www.aquaristatlas.com/species/lamprologus-meleagris-cape-tembwe/">Lamprologus meleagris "Cape Tembwe" on Aquarist Atlas</a></div>
<script src="https://www.aquaristatlas.com/embed/v1/card.js" async referrerpolicy="no-referrer"></script>