Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Petrochromis famula

Petrochromis famula "Chimba"

Chimba — CHEEM-bah (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 Petrochromis famula account →

Specific to Chimba

  • 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 Petrochromis famula.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.9 in15.1 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Depth7–20 ft2–6 m
DietEpilithic algae and diatoms scraped from rock surfaces (aufwuchs grazer)
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder15–60 eggs (typically ~30 in aquaria); brooded ~30 days
Sexual dimorphismYesMales more colourful with stronger iridescence and more pointed dorsal, anal and pelvic fins; males carry egg-spots on the anal fin
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chimba population

Petrochromis famula "Chimba" is the Chimba population of Petrochromis famula, a geographic colour form from the Zambia coast of Lake Tanganyika in the southern part of the lake. It is the same species as Petrochromis famula, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Chimba fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Petrochromis famula is one of the smaller members of a genus of dedicated rock-grazing cichlids found only in Lake Tanganyika. It earns its living combing a film of algae and diatoms off boulders with brush-like pads of hinged teeth, and it survives among bigger, pushier congeners by claiming narrow crevices the giants cannot fit into. Comparatively modest in size and aggression for a Petrochromis, it is nonetheless an intensely territorial maternal mouthbrooder that demands a long tank and a high-fibre diet in captivity.

Full Petrochromis famula account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Petrochromis famula "Chimba"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Petrochromis famula (species record)
  3. FishBase — Petrochromis famula summary
  4. Mattsson et al. — A morphological and molecular analysis of the species diversity of the genus Petrochromis from Lake Tanganyika
  5. Yamaoka — feeding behaviour and dental morphology of algae-scraping cichlids (Petrochromis), Lake Tanganyika
  6. Tada et al. — Diet disparity among sympatric herbivorous cichlids in the same ecomorphs in Lake Tanganyika (BMC Biology)