Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni "Mbita Island"
Mbita Island — m-BEE-tah 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 Mbita 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
EXEWCRENVUNTLC
CARESNOT LISTED
EWCRENVUNTnot on the priority list
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 Mbita Island population
Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni "Mbita Island" is the Mbita Island population of Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni, a geographic colour form from the Zambia coast of Lake Tanganyika in the north-central 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 Mbita Island fish at tanganyika.si →
Sources
- tanganyika.si — Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni "Mbita Island"
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — cunningtoni, Lamprologus (Boulenger 1906)
- FishBase — Neolamprologus cunningtoni summary
- GBIF — Lepidiolamprologus cunningtoni (Boulenger, 1906)
- Stiassny (1997) — A Phylogenetic Overview of the Lamprologine Cichlids of Africa, S. Afr. J. Sci. 93:513–523
- Evolutionary history of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini (Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.)