Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Telmatochromis brichardi

Telmatochromis brichardi "Magara"

Magara — mah-GAH-rah (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 Telmatochromis brichardi account →

Specific to Magara

  • 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 Telmatochromis brichardi.

IUCNCRITICALLY ENDANGERED · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.4 in6 cm total length
Temperature75–79 °F24–26 °C
pH8–9alkaline
Depth16–66 ft5–20 m
DietAufwuchs grazer (algae and associated micro-invertebrates) with opportunistic predation on eggs and fry of neighbouring substrate-spawners
BreedingCave/crevice substrate spawner; adhesive eggs deposited on hidden surfaces inside rock crevicesSmall; exact counts not well documented in literature
Sexual dimorphismYesMales grow noticeably larger than females and hold territory; no reliable colour difference
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Magara population

Telmatochromis brichardi "Magara" is the Magara population of Telmatochromis brichardi, a geographic colour form from the Burundi coast of Lake Tanganyika in the far northern part of the lake. It is the same species as Telmatochromis brichardi, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Magara fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Telmatochromis brichardi is a small, elongate lamprologine cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, where it lives among the rocks of the shallow littoral and stakes out tiny crevices to breed. For decades aquarists kept it under the wrong name and mistook it for a shell-dweller; the bigger surprise is its conservation status, because despite being a familiar tank fish its true wild population is restricted to a short stretch of the Burundi shore and is now ranked Critically Endangered.

Full Telmatochromis brichardi account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Telmatochromis brichardi "Magara"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Telmatochromis brichardi
  3. FishBase — Telmatochromis brichardi summary
  4. FishBase Field Guide — Telmatochromis brichardi
  5. iNaturalist — Telmatochromis brichardi
  6. Louisy, P. 1989. Description de Telmatochromis brichardi (Pisces, Cichlidae, Lamprologini). Rev. Fr. Aquariol. 15(3):79-85 (cited in FishBase main reference)