Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lepidiolamprologus profundicola

Lepidiolamprologus profundicola "Ifala"

Ifala — ee-FAH-lah (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 profundicola account →

Specific to Ifala

  • 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 profundicola.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size12 in30.5 cm total length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Depth16–328 ft5–100 m
DietPiscivore; preys mainly on young cichlids (including Cyprichromis) and other small fish; trophic level 4.2.
BreedingOpen rock-face substrate spawner; harem polygynist with lunar-cued spawning cycle.Not published; eggs laid on open rock face, then moved to a cave entrance by the guarding female after ~3–4 days.
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong size dimorphism: females 25–40% shorter than males. No strong color difference between sexes.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Ifala population

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

Colour reference: living Ifala fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Lepidiolamprologus profundicola is one of the largest of the lamprologine cichlids, a deep-dwelling piscivore endemic to Lake Tanganyika that hunts smaller fish across sediment-dusted rocky slopes. Its name means roughly "deep-water scaled bright hare," and it lives up to the first part: it routinely ranges deeper than its better-known relatives. Drab beige and small-eyed where flashier cichlids are gaudy, it earns attention instead through size, speed, and a lunar-timed spawning routine in which a single female holds the fort while the male moves on.

Full Lepidiolamprologus profundicola account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lepidiolamprologus profundicola "Ifala"
  2. FishBase: Lepidiolamprologus profundicola (Poll, 1949)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — species record (CAS)
  4. Sturmbauer et al. 2010, Evolutionary history of the cichlid tribe Lamprologini (Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.)
  5. Kullander & Karlsson: Lepidiolamprologus kamambae, a new species (genus context)