Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Lobochilotes labiatus

Lobochilotes labiatus "Semwe Rocks"

Semwe Rocks — SEHM-weh ROKS (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 Lobochilotes labiatus account →

Specific to Semwe Rocks

  • 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 Lobochilotes labiatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size14.5 in36.8 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth7–98 ft2–30 m
DietSucks invertebrates from rock crevices (using fleshy lips)
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderUp to several hundred eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak; sexes monomorphic in color and pattern. Males grow larger (~35-37 cm vs ~25 cm) and hold territories; size and breeding behavior are the main cues.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Semwe Rocks population

Lobochilotes labiatus "Semwe Rocks" is the Semwe Rocks population of Lobochilotes labiatus, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Lobochilotes labiatus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Semwe Rocks fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Lobochilotes labiatus is the big, thick-lipped cichlid of Lake Tanganyika, the only species in its genus and one of the largest members of the tropheine lineage that dominates the lake's rocky shores. Its signature is right there in the name: a pair of swollen, rubbery, lobed lips that an adult presses over cracks in the rock and uses to seal and suck out the invertebrates hiding inside. At up to roughly 14 inches it is one of the largest cichlids in the lake, a roaming, fiercely territorial benthivore that divers along the rubble-and-sand shoreline learn to recognize at a glance.

Full Lobochilotes labiatus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lobochilotes labiatus "Semwe Rocks"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — species record for Tilapia labiata / Lobochilotes labiatus
  3. FishBase — Lobochilotes labiata summary
  4. GBIF — Lobochilotes labiatus (Boulenger, 1898)
  5. Kohda, M. & Tanida, K. (1996). Overlapping territory of the benthophagous cichlid fish Lobochilotes labiatus in Lake Tanganyika. Environmental Biology of Fishes 45:13–20
  6. Baumgarten et al. — What big lips are good for: on the adaptive function of repeatedly evolved hypertrophied lips of cichlid fishes (ResearchGate)