Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus olivaceous

Neolamprologus olivaceous "Cape Tembwe"Olivaceous cichlid

Neolamprologus olivaceous (Cape Tembwe)

Cape Tembwe — KAYP TEHM-bweh (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 olivaceous account →

Specific to Cape Tembwe

  • 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 olivaceous.

IUCNDATA DEFICIENT · 2006
DDnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesNeolamprologus tetracanthusdescribed as Lamprologus tetracanthus Boulenger 1899
Scientific size4 in10 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Habitat waterhard · 600–690 µS/cmLake Tanganyika
Depth13–66 ft4–20 m
DietCarnivore; picks small invertebrates (insect larvae, copepods) from rock biofilm and gleans zooplankton from the water column
BreedingSubstrate spawner (cave)up to 150 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak; sexes look alike, adult males average slightly larger than females
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Cape Tembwe population

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

Colour reference: living Cape Tembwe fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus olivaceous is a small, olive-toned lamprologine cichlid from the rocky shallows of Lake Tanganyika's western, Congolese coast. Described by collector Pierre Brichard in 1989, it belongs to the famous "brichardi/pulcher" complex of cooperative breeders, and its status as a distinct species has been argued over ever since — several leading workers consider it nothing more than a regional form of the daffodil cichlid, Neolamprologus pulcher. Whatever name wins in the end, the fish itself is a recognizable, colony-forming rock dweller whose helpers defend a shared territory with a ferocity out of all proportion to its size.

Full Neolamprologus olivaceous account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus olivaceous "Cape Tembwe"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Neolamprologus olivaceous (Brichard 1989)
  3. FishBase: Neolamprologus olivaceous summary page
  4. African Diving blog: Neolamprologus pulcher and the analogy of N. brichardi (cooperative breeding, complex taxonomy)
  5. O'Reilly et al. 2003, Nature: Climate change decreases aquatic ecosystem productivity of Lake Tanganyika
  6. FishBase: Neolamprologus olivaceous Catalog of Fishes species cross-reference (synonymy with N. pulcher per Konings)
  7. IUCN Red List — Neolamprologus olivaceous "Cape Tembwe"
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