Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus mustax

Neolamprologus mustax "Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island"

Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island — moo-TOHN-dweh croh-coh-DEE-leh 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 mustax account →

Specific to Mutondwe (Crocodile) 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 mustax.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.9 in10 cm total length
Temperature73–77 °F23–25 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Depth0–131 ft0–40 m
DietInvertebrate picker; forages over aufwuchs biocover and probes rock crevices for shrimps, crustaceans, and other small invertebrates.
BreedingCave spawner (substrate/cave)20–50 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMales grow noticeably larger than females; sexes are otherwise difficult to distinguish by colour or pattern alone.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island population

Neolamprologus mustax "Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island" is the Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island population of Neolamprologus mustax, a geographic colour form from the Zambia coast of Lake Tanganyika in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Neolamprologus mustax, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus mustax is a small, deep-rock cichlid found only in the southern reaches of Lake Tanganyika, where it picks invertebrates from crevices in the rubble below about 20 m (65 ft). Its name nods to the pale "beard" on its chin — a trait shared across every known population — and it sits at the tangled boundary of the lake's yellow Neolamprologus leleupi complex, blurring into intermediate forms toward the Congolese shore. Modestly sized but fiercely territorial, it is a fish for keepers who want an authentic Tanganyikan rock specialist rather than an easy showpiece.

Full Neolamprologus mustax account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus mustax "Mutondwe (Crocodile) Island"
  2. FishBase: Neolamprologus mustax (Poll, 1978)
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Neolamprologus mustax (species record)
  4. GBIF — Neolamprologus mustax occurrence records (via FishBase)
  5. Poll, M. (1978). Contribution à la connaissance du genre Lamprologus — original description of Lamprologus mustax (Persée)
  6. The taxonomic diversity of the cichlid fish fauna of ancient Lake Tanganyika (ResearchGate fulltext)