Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lepidiolamprologus elongatus

Lepidiolamprologus elongatus "Mawimbi"

Mawimbi — mah-WEEM-bee (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 Mawimbi

  • 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 Mawimbi population

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

Colour reference: living Mawimbi 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 "Mawimbi"
  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)