Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of the base species

Lamprologus ocellatus "Lwili Island"

Lwili Island — LWEE-lee EYE-land (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 the base species account →

Specific to Lwili Island

  • 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 the base species.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.3 in5.8 cm total length
Temperature73–77 °F23–25 °C
pH8–9alkaline
Depth16–164 ft5–50 m
DietMicro-carnivore; picks small crustaceans, insect larvae, and other zoobenthos from the sand and water column near its shell
BreedingSubstrate spawner (inside empty Neothauma snail shell)Small clutch; eggs hatch in ~3 days, fry free-swimming by ~10 days
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger (to ~5 cm); females smaller (3–4 cm), often with white-lipped dorsal and anal fins vs. more orange-tinged fins in males
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lwili Island population

Lamprologus ocellatus "Lwili Island" is the Lwili Island population of Lamprologus ocellatus, a geographic colour form from Lake Tanganyika in Lake Tanganyika part of the lake. It is the same species as Lamprologus ocellatus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Lwili Island fish at tanganyika.si →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lamprologus ocellatus "Lwili Island"
  2. Lamprologus ocellatus — FishBase species summary
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Fricke, Eschmeyer & Van der Laan, eds.)
  4. Lamprologus ocellatus (Steindachner, 1909) — GBIF Backbone Taxonomy
  5. Brandtmann, Scandura & Trillmich (1999) — Female-female conflict in the harem of a snail cichlid (Lamprologus ocellatus), Behaviour 136:1123-1144
  6. Female aggression and male peace-keeping in a cichlid fish harem (Lamprologus ocellatus)