Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Spathodus erythrodon

Spathodus erythrodon "Cape Tembwe"

Cape Tembwe — KAYP TEHM-bweh (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 Spathodus erythrodon account →

Specific to Cape Tembwe

  • 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 Spathodus erythrodon.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2006
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3.3 in8.5 cm total length
Temperature77–81 °F25–27 °C
pH7.2–8.5alkaline
Depth0–10 ft0–3 m
DietAufwuchs grazer; scrapes algal turf and associated diatoms, microcrustaceans, and small invertebrates from wave-washed rocks.
Breedingbiparental mouthbrooder~30 large eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger than females (up to ~8 cm vs ~6 cm TL); color differences are subtle and population-specific; no reliable external marker beyond size.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Cape Tembwe population

Spathodus erythrodon "Cape Tembwe" is the Cape Tembwe population of Spathodus erythrodon, a geographic colour form from the Democratic Republic of the Congo coast of Lake Tanganyika in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Spathodus erythrodon, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Cape Tembwe fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Spathodus erythrodon is a small, stone-colored cichlid that lives in the ankle-deep surf zone of Lake Tanganyika, clinging to wave-washed pebbles and grazing the film of algae and tiny animals that coats them. It belongs to the eretmodine "goby cichlids," a handful of look-alike species that have traded a working swimbladder for the ability to hold position in moving water, hopping rather than swimming. Most remarkable is its breeding system: a monogamous pair shares the brooding, the female carrying the eggs first and then passing them, mouth to mouth, to the male — a sequential biparental arrangement that is rare even among Tanganyika's famously varied cichlids.

Full Spathodus erythrodon account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Spathodus erythrodon "Cape Tembwe"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Spathodus erythrodon (CAS)
  3. FishBase — Spathodus erythrodon summary
  4. FishBase — Eretmodus cyanostictus (congener reference)
  5. Morley & Balshine (2003), Reproductive biology of Eretmodus cyanostictus, Env. Biol. Fishes
  6. Sefc (2011), Mating and Parental Care in Lake Tanganyika's Cichlids (review), PMC