Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lepidiolamprologus elongatus

Lepidiolamprologus elongatus "Kekese"

Kekese — keh-KEH-seh (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 elongatus account →

Specific to Kekese

  • 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 elongatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size9.8 in25 cm total length
Temperature73–79 °F23–26 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Depth3–98 ft1–30 m
DietObligate piscivore; preys principally on small fishes (juvenile cichlids and small-bodied reef species), supplemented opportunistically by invertebrates.
BreedingCave/crevice substrate spawner; biparental careUp to ~800 eggs reported; typically several hundred per clutch
Sexual dimorphismYesMales substantially larger than females; females noticeably smaller, often reaching only ~15–18 cm vs. 20–25 cm for males
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kekese population

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

Colour reference: living Kekese fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Lepidiolamprologus elongatus is a slender, torpedo-shaped predator from Lake Tanganyika, one of the lake's most committed rock-dwelling piscivores. Built for a quick rush over the boulders rather than the long open-water chase, it hangs in the water just above the reef, watching, and accelerates onto smaller fish with a mouthful of fine, needle-like teeth. It is striking enough as a hunter that a second cichlid, Lepidiolamprologus mimicus, evolved to impersonate it — making this elongate lamprologine the model in the first documented case of aggressive mimicry among the lake's substrate-spawning cichlids.

Full Lepidiolamprologus elongatus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lepidiolamprologus elongatus "Kekese"
  2. FishBase — Lepidiolamprologus elongatus (Boulenger, 1898)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — elongatus, Lamprologus (species record)
  4. GBIF — Lepidiolamprologus elongatus
  5. Schelly, Takahashi, Bills & Hori (2007), Zootaxa 1638 — first case of aggressive mimicry among lamprologines (L. mimicus n. sp.)
  6. Sturmbauer et al. (2010), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. — evolutionary history of the Lamprologini (genus Lepidiolamprologus as revised by Schelly et al. 2006)