Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus calliurus

Neolamprologus calliurus "Nkondwe Island"

Nkondwe Island — n-KOHN-dweh EYE-land (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 calliurus account →

Specific to Nkondwe Island

  • 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 calliurus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.4 in6 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8–9alkaline
Depth33–180 ft10–55 m
DietMicro-predator / plankton-picker (zooplankton and micro-invertebrates)
BreedingObligate shell-brooder; polygynous haremSmall, a few dozen eggs laid inside an empty Neothauma snail shell
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong: male markedly larger (~5-6 cm) with pelvic fins drawn out into bluish-white filaments and an ornamented tail; female small (~3.5-4 cm) enough to retreat fully inside the shell.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Nkondwe Island population

Neolamprologus calliurus "Nkondwe Island" is the Nkondwe Island population of Neolamprologus calliurus, 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 Neolamprologus calliurus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Nkondwe Island fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus calliurus is a small white-tailed shell-dwelling cichlid of Lake Tanganyika's sandy littoral, where the male spends his life beside a single empty Neothauma snail shell that doubles as fortress and spawning chamber. Long entangled in nomenclatural argument with its close look-alike Neolamprologus brevis — many authorities still treat the two as one species — it is best known to aquarists as the 'Magara' or 'white-tail' shelldweller, a fish in which a 5-cm male, his pelvic fins drawn out into pale filaments, guards a harem of smaller females each tucked into her own shell on the open sand.

Full Neolamprologus calliurus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus calliurus "Nkondwe Island"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — calliurus, Lamprologus Boulenger 1906 (current status: valid as Neolamprologus calliurus; full synonymy and type data)
  3. FishBase — Neolamprologus brevis (Boulenger 1899) (calliurus treated under brevis; biology, plankton diet, shell-dweller habit)
  4. Boulenger, G. A., 1906 — 'Fourth contribution to the ichthyology of Lake Tanganyika' (Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 17(6): 537–601) — original description of Lamprologus calliurus
  5. Maréchal, C. & M. Poll, 1991 — Neolamprologus, in Check-list of the freshwater fishes of Africa (CLOFFA) vol. 4 (treats calliurus as a synonym of brevis)
  6. Konings, A., 2015/2019 — Tanganyika Cichlids in their Natural Habitat (lists the species as 'Lamprologus' calliurus; shell-dweller ecology)