Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus brichardi

Neolamprologus brichardi "Lyela"

Lyela — LYEH-lah (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 Neolamprologus brichardi account →

Specific to Lyela

  • 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 Neolamprologus brichardi.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.9 in10 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8–9alkaline
Depth10–98 ft3–30 m
DietZooplankton and small invertebrates (copepods, insect larvae) picked from open water and biocover
Breedingcave substrate spawnerA few dozen eggs in early spawns; established pairs may exceed 100 eggs per clutch
Sexual dimorphismYesSubtle — males average slightly larger with longer fin filaments and a less rounded belly; sexes otherwise difficult to distinguish
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Lyela population

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

Colour reference: living Lyela fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus brichardi, the "Princess of Burundi," is a small, lyre-tailed cichlid endemic to the rocky shores of Lake Tanganyika and one of the most recognizable fish in the entire African-cichlid hobby. Pale fawn with a black-and-gold "T" marking on the gill cover and trailing white fin filaments, it is famous less for its color than for its behavior: in the wild it gathers in aggregations that can number in the thousands, and within those crowds it raises young cooperatively, with older offspring staying on as "helpers" that defend and tend their parents' later broods. That single trait has made the brichardi/pulcher group one of the most intensively studied social systems in all of fishes — and the source of a taxonomic argument that still isn't fully settled.

Full Neolamprologus brichardi account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus brichardi "Lyela"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Neolamprologus brichardi (Poll, 1974)
  3. FishBase — Neolamprologus brichardi summary
  4. GBIF — Neolamprologus brichardi (Poll, 1974), accepted taxon (key 2371754)
  5. Duftner et al. 2007 — Parallel evolution of facial stripe patterns in the N. brichardi/pulcher complex (summarized)
  6. Bergmüller et al. 2005 — Helpers stay and pay or disperse and breed (Proc. R. Soc. B / PMC)