Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Spathodus erythrodon

Spathodus erythrodon "Ikola"

Ikola — ee-KOH-lah (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 Ikola

  • 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 Ikola population

Spathodus erythrodon "Ikola" is the Ikola population of Spathodus erythrodon, a geographic colour form from the Tanzania coast of Lake Tanganyika in the north-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 Ikola 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 "Ikola"
  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