Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Petrochromis fasciolatus

Petrochromis fasciolatus "Kambwimba"

Kambwimba — kahm-BWEEM-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 fasciolatus account →

Specific to Kambwimba

  • 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 fasciolatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.9 in15 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.4–8.4alkaline
Depth0–49 ft0–15 m
DietHerbivore; grazes aufwuchs (algae, cyanobacteria, diatoms) from rock surfaces; cyanobacteria ~75%, diatoms ~20% of gut contents
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder20–40 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger and intensify in color when territorial; some populations show orange-red eye stripe ("Red Eye" form from Ikola) or orange/blue dorsal trim absent in females
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kambwimba population

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

Colour reference: living Kambwimba fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Petrochromis fasciolatus is a small, algae-grazing cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, recognizable by the narrow vertical bars that give it its name and by a slightly upturned mouth unusual for its genus. It is the underdog of the lake's rock-scraping guild: outcompeted for the richest algal pasture by larger, more aggressive Petrochromis, it gets around them by feeding in mobile schools that can number in the hundreds and simply overwhelm a territory holder's defenses. That mob-feeding strategy, documented in the field, is the single most interesting thing about an otherwise modest fish.

Full Petrochromis fasciolatus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Petrochromis fasciolatus "Kambwimba"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Petrochromis fasciolatus (Boulenger 1914)
  3. FishBase — Petrochromis fasciolatus summary
  4. Kohda & Takemon (1996), Group foraging by the herbivorous cichlid Petrochromis fasciolatus in Lake Tanganyika, Ichthyological Research 43:55–63
  5. Hata et al. (2014), Diet disparity among sympatric herbivorous cichlids in Lake Tanganyika, BMC Biology 12:90
  6. Hata et al. (2015), Depth segregation and diet disparity in sympatric herbivorous cichlids in Lake Tanganyika