Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Limnochromis auritus

Limnochromis auritus "Molwe"Spangled Cichlid

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

Molwe — MOH-lweh (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 Molwe

  • 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 Molwe population

Limnochromis auritus "Molwe" is the Molwe population of Limnochromis auritus, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the 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 Molwe 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 "Molwe"
  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 "Molwe"
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