Neolamprologus timidus "Mtosi"
Neolamprologus timidus (Kampemba Point, Katondo Point, Kolwe Point, Mtosi, Musi Point, Ulwile Island)
Mtosi — m-TOH-see (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 timidus account →Specific to Mtosi
- 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 timidus.
The Mtosi population
Neolamprologus timidus "Mtosi" is the Mtosi population of Neolamprologus timidus, 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 timidus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Mtosi fish at tanganyika.si →
About the species
Neolamprologus timidus is a slender, dark-bodied Tanganyikan cichlid that spent decades hiding in plain sight, lumped together with its near-twin Neolamprologus furcifer until a 2014 study teased the two apart. Endemic to a roughly 62 mi stretch of the Tanzanian coast, it lives pressed against the undersides of boulders and the back walls of deep caves, often hanging belly-to-rock with its head pointing down. Its name, Latin for "shy," captures exactly how it behaves: large-eyed, secretive, and gone in a flash the moment a diver draws near.
Full Neolamprologus timidus account →Sources
- tanganyika.si — Neolamprologus timidus "Mtosi"
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Neolamprologus timidus (Catalog of Fishes, CAS)
- Neolamprologus timidus - FishBase summary page
- Neolamprologus timidus - GBIF species record
- Cloffa / Faunafri: Neolamprologus timidus Kullander et al., 2014
- Kullander, Norén, Karlsson & Karlsson (2014): Description of Neolamprologus timidus, new species, and review of N. furcifer (Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwaters 24(4):301-328, PDF)
- IUCN Red List — Neolamprologus timidus "Mtosi"