Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus chitamwebwai

Neolamprologus chitamwebwai "Mzungu Beach"

Mzungu Beach — m-ZOON-goo BEECH (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 chitamwebwai account →

Specific to Mzungu Beach

  • 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 chitamwebwai.

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Depth33–98 ft10–30 m
DietBenthic invertebrates; gleans small invertebrates from rocky substrate, biofilm, and the water column just above the bottom; uses sediment-winnowing behavior to sort edible morsels from grit
BreedingCave/substrate spawner; adhesive eggs deposited on hidden surface within rockwork~10–20 fry per spawn
Sexual dimorphismYesMales grow larger than females; sexes otherwise difficult to distinguish by eye
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mzungu Beach population

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

Colour reference: living Mzungu Beach fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus chitamwebwai is a small, elongate Lamprologine cichlid described in 2007 from a single stretch of rocky shore near Kigoma, on the Tanzanian side of Lake Tanganyika. It belongs to the celebrated "princess" or Neolamprologus savoryi species complex but breaks the mold: where its relatives form sprawling colonies and spill out dozens of fry, this fish lives at low density on exposed boulder slopes, holds a tiny home range, and raises only a handful of young. It is also a quiet test case in cichlid taxonomy, accepted as a distinct species by some authorities and folded into Neolamprologus falcicula by others.

Full Neolamprologus chitamwebwai account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus chitamwebwai "Mzungu Beach"
  2. Neolamprologus chitamwebwai — FishBase summary
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — chitamwebwai, Neolamprologus
  4. GBIF — Neolamprologus chitamwebwai Verburg & Bills, 2007
  5. GBIF dataset — Two new cichlid species Neolamprologus from Lake Tanganyika
  6. Verburg & Bills (2007), Two new cichlid species Neolamprologus from Lake Tanganyika — Zootaxa 1612 (FishBase ref)