Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus pleuromaculatus

Neolamprologus pleuromaculatus "Makombe"

Makombe — mah-KOHM-beh (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 pleuromaculatus account →

Specific to Makombe

  • 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 pleuromaculatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2006
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size4.7 in12 cm total length
Temperature73–77 °F23–25 °C
pH7.5–8.5alkaline
Depth0–131 ft0–40 m
DietCarnivore; preys on small fishes, cichlid fry, and invertebrates in the littoral zone
BreedingSubstrate spawner~50 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMales noticeably larger than females; sexes otherwise similar in coloration
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Makombe population

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

Colour reference: living Makombe fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus pleuromaculatus is a spotted, elongate predatory cichlid endemic to the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, where it hunts small fish and fry over sediment-laden rocky shores. Long shuffled between genera, it now sits in Lepidiolamprologus, the lake's lineage of slender, big-mouthed ambush hunters. A capable but understated fish, it has been in the aquarium trade for decades without ever catching on the way its flashier shell-dweller and predator cousins did.

Full Neolamprologus pleuromaculatus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus pleuromaculatus "Makombe"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: pleuromaculatus, Lamprologus (current valid name Lepidiolamprologus pleuromaculatus)
  3. FishBase: Neolamprologus pleuromaculatus summary
  4. FishBase: Neolamprologus pleuromaculatus country/occurrence (Luhanga, NW Tanganyika)
  5. GBIF: Neolamprologus pleuromaculatus (Trewavas & Poll, 1952)
  6. Schelly, Takahashi, Bills & Hori (2007), Zootaxa 1638 — first case of aggressive mimicry among lamprologines (Lepidiolamprologus mimicus), with genus context