Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Limnochromis auritus

Limnochromis auritus "Kekese"Spangled Cichlid

Limnochromis auritus (Cape Chaitika, Chituta Bay, Kambwimba, Karago, Kekese, Molwe, Tundu, Udachi)

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 Limnochromis auritus 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 Limnochromis auritus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesLimnochromis auritusdescribed as Paratilapia aurita Boulenger 1901 · this species
Scientific size5 in13 cm standard length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 446 ppm
Habitat waterhard · 600–690 µS/cmLake Tanganyika
Depth10–328 ft3–100 m
DietBenthic invertivore/molluscivore
BreedingBiparental mouthbrooder~300 eggs (roughly 100 upward reported)
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak; males average slightly larger, but there is little difference in color or finnage, making confident sexing difficult outside breeding behavior
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kekese population

Limnochromis auritus "Kekese" is the Kekese population of Limnochromis auritus, 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 Limnochromis auritus, 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

Limnochromis auritus, the spangled cichlid, is a deep-dwelling, snail-crushing cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika and the type species of its genus. Found lake-wide over soft mud bottoms well below the sunlit rocky shore, it is one of a small handful of Tanganyikan cichlids in which both parents share mouthbrooding duties — a monogamous pair that spawns inside a dug burrow and then trades the eggs and larvae back and forth for roughly two weeks. Long-popular among Rift Lake hobbyists for its calm temperament, it remains comparatively obscure precisely because it lives where divers and collectors rarely go.

Full Limnochromis auritus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Limnochromis auritus "Kekese"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Paratilapia aurita / Limnochromis auritus (Boulenger 1901)
  3. FishBase: Limnochromis auritus (Spangled cichlid)
  4. Sefc (2011), Mating and Parental Care in Lake Tanganyika's Cichlids
  5. Kirchberger et al. (2012), Evolutionary History of Lake Tanganyika's Predatory Deepwater Cichlids
  6. Add-my-pet (AmP): Limnochromis auritus DEB entry (life-history data)
  7. IUCN Red List — Limnochromis auritus "Kekese"
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