Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus niger

Neolamprologus niger "Sibwesa"

Sibwesa — see-BWEH-sah (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 niger account →

Specific to Sibwesa

  • 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 niger.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.5 in9 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Depth20–131 ft6–40 m
DietCarnivore; feeds on invertebrates including insect larvae, small crustaceans, and possibly mollusks picked from rock surfaces and crevices
BreedingCave/crevice substrate spawnerVery small; anecdotal hobbyist reports of only a few eggs per spawn
Sexual dimorphismYesMales grow to ~9 cm TL, females to ~5 cm TL; no marked sexual dichromatism beyond the size difference
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Sibwesa population

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

Colour reference: living Sibwesa fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus niger is a small, dark, retiring cichlid endemic to the northern third of Lake Tanganyika, where it threads its days through the cracks of sediment-dusted rock. It is one of the lake's true shadow-dwellers: a recent survey of activity rhythms across sixty Tanganyikan cichlids singled it out as a genuinely nocturnal species, and divers and collectors alike describe it as so secretive that it is rarely seen even where it is common. Sooty-black and rarely longer than a finger, it trades the gaudy color of its rockfish neighbors for a life spent mostly out of sight.

Full Neolamprologus niger account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus niger "Sibwesa"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Neolamprologus niger (Poll, 1956)
  3. FishBase — Neolamprologus niger (Poll, 1956)
  4. GBIF — Neolamprologus niger (Poll, 1956)
  5. Maréchal & Poll (1991) — Neolamprologus, in Check-list of the Freshwater Fishes of Africa (CLOFFA IV), vol. 4: 274–294
  6. Poll (1956) — Poissons Cichlidae, Exploration Hydrobiologique du Lac Tanganika (1946–1947), 3(5B) (original description)