Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of the base species

Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni "Chituta Bay"

Chituta Bay — chee-TOO-tah BAY (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 Chituta Bay

  • 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 size11.5 in29.1 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Depth3–66 ft1–20 m
DietPiscivore; hunts smaller fishes (sand-dwelling cichlids, shell-dwellers) over open sand; also takes crustaceans; juveniles begin on planktonic prey.
BreedingSubstrate spawner; excavates cave nests among rocks or at the sand–structure boundary.~500 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMales significantly larger (up to ~30 cm) than females (rarely exceeding 20 cm); sexes otherwise similar in patterning.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chituta Bay population

Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni "Chituta Bay" is the Chituta Bay population of Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni, 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 cunningtoni, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Chituta Bay fish at tanganyika.si →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni "Chituta Bay"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — cunningtoni, Lamprologus (Boulenger 1906)
  3. FishBase — Neolamprologus cunningtoni summary
  4. GBIF — Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni (Boulenger, 1906)
  5. Stiassny (1997) — A Phylogenetic Overview of the Lamprologine Cichlids of Africa, S. Afr. J. Sci. 93:513–523
  6. Evolutionary history of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini (Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.)