Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lestradea perspicax

Lestradea perspicax "Jakobsen's Beach"

Jakobsen's Beach — YAH-kob-senz BEECH (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 Lestradea perspicax account →

Specific to Jakobsen's Beach

  • 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 Lestradea perspicax.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.3 in13.5 cm standard length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth0–98 ft0–30 m
DietMicrophage; sifts diatoms, cyanobacteria, bacteria and detritus (biocover) from sand and the water just above it
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~60-70 fry reported in captivity
Sexual dimorphismYesBreeding males flush blue on body and dorsal with a black throat and yellow pelvic fins, and show a yellow-tipped dorsal; quiescent fish are plain silver. Males slightly larger and often show two submarginal dorsal lines versus the female's one.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Jakobsen's Beach population

Lestradea perspicax "Jakobsen's Beach" is the Jakobsen's Beach population of Lestradea perspicax, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Lestradea perspicax, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Jakobsen's Beach fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Lestradea perspicax is a silvery, sand-dwelling cichlid found only in Lake Tanganyika, where it cruises the open sandy floor in loose aggregations and sifts microscopic food from the grains. It belongs to the Ectodini, the lake's flock of sand specialists, and its party trick is genuinely strange: when a predator closes in, the fish dives headfirst into the substrate and buries itself completely for minutes at a time. Drab at rest, a courting male turns electric blue with a black throat and yellow pelvic fins, then digs a wide crater in the sand to spawn.

Full Lestradea perspicax account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lestradea perspicax "Jakobsen's Beach"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Lestradea perspicax (species record)
  3. FishBase: Lestradea perspicax summary
  4. FishBase: Lestradea perspicax occurrence records
  5. Koblmuller et al., evolutionary relationships in the sand-dwelling (Ectodini) cichlid lineage of Lake Tanganyika
  6. Konings, Tanganyika Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (publisher overview)