Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri

Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri "Kigoma"

Kigoma — kee-GOH-mah (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 boulengeri account →

Specific to Kigoma

  • 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 boulengeri.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.1 in8 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH7.5–8.5alkaline
Depth33–98 ft10–30 m
DietBenthic micro-predator; takes small invertebrates including insect larvae and planktonic crustaceans sifted from sand and the water column just above it
BreedingShell spawner; female deposits eggs inside an empty gastropod shell (Neothauma or similar), male fertilizes by releasing milt at the shell opening25–60 eggs per spawn
Sexual dimorphismYesMales noticeably larger (6–8 cm) than females (~5 cm); both sexes share similar coloration and pattern
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kigoma population

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

Colour reference: living Kigoma fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri is a small, boldly blotched lamprologine cichlid endemic to the northern third of Lake Tanganyika, where pairs colonize sand and mud flats studded with scattered empty snail shells. Though it carries one of the lake's most over-shuffled names, having migrated through three genera since Steindachner described it in 1909, its life is simple: a female tucked inside a shell, a too-big male digging and defending the pit around her. For a fish barely the length of a finger, it is a startlingly determined scrapper.

Full Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri "Kigoma"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri (Steindachner 1909)
  3. FishBase — Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri summary
  4. FishBase — Tanganyika trophic species list (size & trophic level)
  5. GBIF — Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri taxon
  6. O'Reilly et al. 2003, Nature — Climate change decreases productivity of Lake Tanganyika