Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lamprologus meleagris

Lamprologus meleagris "Moba"

Moba — MOH-bah (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 Lamprologus meleagris account →

Specific to Moba

  • 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 Lamprologus meleagris.

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.8 in7 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
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 Moba population

Lamprologus meleagris "Moba" is the Moba 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 Moba fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Lamprologus meleagris is a small shell-dwelling cichlid from the Congolese shoreline of Lake Tanganyika, named for the pearly, guineafowl-like speckling that earned it the aquarium-trade name "pearly ocellatus." Its most interesting feature isn't its looks but its name: most taxonomists now treat meleagris as a junior synonym of the older Lamprologus stappersi, so the fish hobbyists buy under one label is, by the rules of nomenclature, another. Whatever you call it, it is a sand-and-shell specialist that breeds inside discarded snail shells and defends them with a feistiness out of all proportion to its two-and-a-half-inch frame.

Full Lamprologus meleagris account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lamprologus meleagris "Moba"
  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)