Plecodus paradoxus "Halembe"
Halembe — hah-LEHM-beh (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 the base species account →Specific to Halembe
- 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 the base species.
IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
EXEWCRENVUNTLC
CARESNOT LISTED
EWCRENVUNTnot on the priority list
Scientific size11.8 in30 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth0–820 ft0–250 m
DietLepidophage (scale-eater)
BreedingBiparental mouthbrooder (intermediate substrate-brooder/mouthbrooder)~200-300 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesSlight and unreliable; some dominant males reported larger, but lake survey material notes no consistent size or color difference between the sexes
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →The Halembe population
Plecodus paradoxus "Halembe" is the Halembe population of Plecodus paradoxus, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Plecodus paradoxus, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.
Colour reference: living Halembe fish at tanganyika.si →
Sources
- tanganyika.si — Plecodus paradoxus "Halembe"
- Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Plecodus paradoxus (species record, Boulenger 1898; holotype MRAC 189; current status Perissodus paradoxus)
- FishBase — Perissodus paradoxus (max size, depth, distribution, trophic level, etymology, IUCN line)
- GBIF — Perissodus paradoxus / Plecodus paradoxus (Boulenger, 1898): taxonomy, synonymy & occurrences
- Koblmüller, Egger, Sturmbauer & Sefc (2007), 'Evolutionary history of Lake Tanganyika's scale-eating cichlid fishes', Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 44:1295-1305
- Takahashi, Watanabe, Nishida & Hori (2007), 'Evolution of feeding specialization in Tanganyikan scale-eating cichlids: a molecular phylogenetic approach', BMC Evolutionary Biology (Perissodus diet composition incl. P. paradoxus)