Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Limnotilapia dardennii

Limnotilapia dardennii "Isanga Bay"

Isanga Bay — ee-SAHN-gah BAY (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 Limnotilapia dardennii account →

Specific to Isanga Bay

  • 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 Limnotilapia dardennii.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size10.2 in26 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth0–98 ft0–30 m
DietOmnivore (algae, biocover, plant matter, invertebrates)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~100+ eggs (~6 mm), genus-typical
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak: dominant males larger and more colorful (greenish flank, red-and-yellow throat) when in form; sexes otherwise similar and hard to tell apart when immature.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Isanga Bay population

Limnotilapia dardennii "Isanga Bay" is the Isanga Bay population of Limnotilapia dardennii, a geographic colour form from the Zambia coast of Lake Tanganyika in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Limnotilapia dardennii, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Isanga Bay fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Limnotilapia dardennii is a stout, grass-grazing cichlid found nowhere on Earth but Lake Tanganyika, where it ranges along virtually the entire shoreline rather than clinging to a single reef. It is the only species in its genus and one of the least specialized of the lake's many plant-eating tropheines — a generalist that hugs shallow sandy and weedy flats, builds sand nests, and broods its young in the mouth. Plain at a glance but flushed with green, red, and yellow when in form, it is a fish the aquarium trade quietly underrates: an oversized, tank-tough Tanganyikan that doubles as a near-indestructible dither for fierce company.

Full Limnotilapia dardennii account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Limnotilapia dardennii "Isanga Bay"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Limnotilapia dardennii (Boulenger, 1899)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Pelmatochromis loveridgei (synonym entry)
  4. FishBase — Limnotilapia dardennii (Boulenger, 1899)
  5. FishBase — Diet composition, Limnotilapia dardennii
  6. GBIF — Limnotilapia dardennii (Boulenger, 1899)