Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus tetracanthus

Neolamprologus tetracanthus "Udachi"

Udachi — oo-DAH-chee (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 Udachi

  • 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.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size9.8 in25 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Depth20–197 ft6–60 m
DietCarnivore; molluscs (snails suction-extracted from shell), insect larvae, crustaceans, and small fishes
Breedingsubstrate spawner100–200 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesFemales roughly 20% smaller than males; sexes otherwise nearly identical in colour — notoriously difficult to sex visually
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Udachi population

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

Colour reference: living Udachi 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

  1. tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus tetracanthus "Udachi"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lamprologus tetracanthus (Boulenger, 1899), valid as Neolamprologus tetracanthus
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lamprologus marginatus (Boulenger, 1914), synonym of N. tetracanthus
  4. FishBase — Neolamprologus tetracanthus (Boulenger, 1899), Fourspine cichlid
  5. Sturmbauer, Salzburger, Duftner, Schelly & Koblmüller (2010), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 57:266–284 — Evolutionary history of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini
  6. GBIF — Neolamprologus tetracanthus (Boulenger, 1899) occurrence records