Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus nigriventris

Neolamprologus nigriventris "Kiku"

Kiku — KEE-koo (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 nigriventris account →

Specific to Kiku

  • 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 nigriventris.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.1 in10.3 cm total length
Temperature75–82 °F24–28 °C
pH8.5–9alkaline
Depth49–151 ft15–46 m
DietCarnivore; crustaceans, copepods, insect larvae, snail fragments; forages over rocky intermediate-zone substrate
BreedingCave spawner (substrate spawner, deposits eggs in crevices or under rocks)50–100 eggs (wild); typically 6–12 fry in captivity
Sexual dimorphismYesMales tend to grow larger and more robust; color difference subtle; reliable sexing requires behavioral observation or venting
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kiku population

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

Colour reference: living Kiku fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus nigriventris is a deep-living, rock-loving lamprologine cichlid known from a single short stretch of Lake Tanganyika's southwestern Congolese shore. Discovered and named by Heinz Büscher in 1992, it is a handsome but cantankerous fish — a cave-spawning predator with a refined lateral line for hunting invertebrates in dim water and a reputation, among the few hobbyists who keep it, for turning that aggression lethally on its own kind. It is one of the lake's narrow-range endemics, and although the IUCN lists it as Least Concern, its tiny distribution sits squarely in the path of the shoreline erosion now reshaping the rift.

Full Neolamprologus nigriventris account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus nigriventris "Kiku"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — species record for Neolamprologus nigriventris
  3. FishBase — Neolamprologus nigriventris summary
  4. ITIS — Neolamprologus nigriventris (TSN 648813)
  5. Büscher, H.H. 1992. Neolamprologus nigriventris n. sp.: ein neuer Tanganjikasee-Cichlide (Cichlidae, Lamprologini). DATZ 45(12): 778–783 (original description)
  6. Evolutionary history of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini (mtDNA + nuclear DNA), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 2010 (PMID 20601006)