Neolamprologus tetracanthus "Kisi Island"fourspine cichlid
Neolamprologus tetracanthus (Bilinge Bay, Cape Kabogo, Cape Kachese, Cape Mpimbwe, Chibwensolo, Chimba, Chisanze, Izinga Island, Kala, Kalambo Lodge, Kasakalawe, Kasanga, Kasola Island, Katete, Kigoma, Kilima, Kipili, Kisi Island, Liemba Beach Lodge, Lupita Island, Lusungura Point, Miyako Point, Molwe, Mongwe Reefs, Mpulungu, Mtosi Bay, Mvuna Island, Popo Point, Sibwesa, Tembwe (Deux), Udachi)
Kisi Island — KEE-see 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 tetracanthus account →Specific to Kisi 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 tetracanthus.
The Kisi Island population
Neolamprologus tetracanthus "Kisi Island" is the Kisi Island population of Neolamprologus tetracanthus, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Neolamprologus tetracanthus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Kisi Island fish at tanganyika.si →
About the species
Neolamprologus tetracanthus is a large, silver-spangled predator of Lake Tanganyika's sand-and-rock margins, and the fish from which the whole genus Neolamprologus takes its name. It is best known to hobbyists for its looks — rows of pearly dots laid over a tawny body, fins edged in white, black and sometimes red — and notorious among them for a temper that, once it pairs and spawns, can clear a six-foot tank. The same fish that suction-feeds snails out of their shells in the lake will, in captivity, treat most tankmates as either rivals or food.
Full Neolamprologus tetracanthus account →Sources
- tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus tetracanthus "Kisi Island"
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lamprologus tetracanthus (Boulenger, 1899), valid as Neolamprologus tetracanthus
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lamprologus marginatus (Boulenger, 1914), synonym of N. tetracanthus
- FishBase — Neolamprologus tetracanthus (Boulenger, 1899), Fourspine cichlid
- Sturmbauer, Salzburger, Duftner, Schelly & Koblmüller (2010), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 57:266–284 — Evolutionary history of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini
- GBIF — Neolamprologus tetracanthus (Boulenger, 1899) occurrence records
- IUCN Red List — Neolamprologus tetracanthus "Kisi Island"