Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus "Zambia"Umunzamba
Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus (Cape Chaitika, Cape Nangu, Kambwimba, Kasanga, Katabe Bay, Kipili, Mtoto, Zambia)
Zambia — zahm-BEE-ah (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 Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus account →Specific to Zambia
- 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 Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus.
The Zambia population
Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus "Zambia" is the Zambia population of Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus, a geographic colour form from the Zambia coast of Lake Tanganyika in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Zambia fish at tanganyika.si →
About the species
Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus is a slender, pike-shaped predatory cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, where it hovers a body-length above the sand on the lake's intermediate shores and ambushes smaller fish. Built long and lean — among the most attenuated of the rift's lamprologines, a trait its name records — it is a substrate-spawning piscivore that pairs up to raise its fry with both parents standing guard. Common in the wild and modestly popular in the hobby, it rewards keepers who can give a breeding pair room and accept that, once it spawns, it tolerates almost nothing else in the tank.
Full Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus account →Sources
- tanganyika.si — Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus "Zambia"
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — species record for Lamprologus/Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus
- FishBase — Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus summary
- GBIF — Lepidiolamprologus mimicus (sympatric congener record citing L. attenuatus)
- Schelly, Takahashi, Bills & Hori (2007) — first case of aggressive mimicry in Lepidiolamprologus, Zootaxa (genus context)
- Evolutionary history of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini (mtDNA/nuclear DNA) — PMC
- IUCN Red List — Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus "Zambia"