Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Trematocara stigmaticum

Trematocara stigmaticum "Mkangazi"

Mkangazi — m-kahn-GAH-zee (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 Trematocara stigmaticum account →

Specific to Mkangazi

  • 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 Trematocara stigmaticum.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2006
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size3 in7.5 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.2alkaline
Depth246–656 ft75–200 m
DietNocturnal benthic-to-bathypelagic micro-carnivore; zooplankton and invertebrates, with phytoplankton, tracking the lake's diel plankton migration
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooderUndocumented; as small maternal mouthbrooders, Trematocara are expected to carry modest clutches of a few dozen eggs typical of the genus
Sexual dimorphismMinimalNo strong, well-documented sexual dimorphism recorded; breeding biology largely inferred from congeners
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mkangazi population

Trematocara stigmaticum "Mkangazi" is the Mkangazi population of Trematocara stigmaticum, 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 Trematocara stigmaticum, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Mkangazi fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Trematocara stigmaticum is a small, slender cichlid found only in Lake Tanganyika, where it lives down in the dim benthopelagic zone and rides the lake's nightly plankton elevator toward shallower water after dark. Like the rest of its tribe, it wears an exaggerated set of open sensory pores across the head — the trait that gave the genus its name — which let it hunt by touch and pressure where there is little light. It is a fish almost no aquarist has kept, and one that ichthyologists still know mostly secondhand, through trawl catches and the better-studied habits of its relatives.

Full Trematocara stigmaticum account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Trematocara stigmaticum "Mkangazi"
  2. Trematocara stigmaticum — FishBase species summary
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (California Academy of Sciences)
  4. Trematocara stigmaticum — iNaturalist taxon page
  5. Genus Trematocara — iNaturalist (genus overview)
  6. Takahashi, T. (2002). Systematics of the tribe Trematocarini (Perciformes: Cichlidae) from Lake Tanganyika. Ichthyological Research 49:253–259