Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Xenochromis hecqui

Xenochromis hecqui "Kipili"

Kipili — kee-PEE-lee (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 Xenochromis hecqui account →

Specific to Kipili

  • 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 Xenochromis hecqui.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size11.8 in30 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth16–328 ft5–100 m
DietScale-eater (lepidophage) reported to strip scales, skin and fin tissue from deeper-water fishes such as large benthic predators; supplements with copepods and zooplankton.
BreedingMouthbrooder (presumed; undocumented)~600 eggs (one female, Poll 1956)
Sexual dimorphismYesSexual dimorphism not well documented for this rarely seen deepwater species; some size or finnage difference between sexes is presumed as in related Perissodini but unconfirmed.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kipili population

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

Colour reference: living Kipili fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Xenochromis hecqui is a little-seen, deep-living cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika and the sole member of its genus. It belongs to the Perissodini, the lake's famous tribe of scale-eaters, and most authorities place it among the seven species that strip and swallow the scales of other fish. Caught down to about 100 m (330 ft) over open mud, it is one of the more cryptic products of Tanganyika's ancient cichlid radiation, and it almost never reaches a home aquarium.

Full Xenochromis hecqui account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Xenochromis hecqui "Kipili"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: Xenochromis hecqui
  3. FishBase: Xenochromis hecqui summary
  4. FishBase Field Guide: Xenochromis hecqui
  5. GBIF: Xenochromis hecqui Boulenger, 1899 (occurrences & type)
  6. Koblmuller, Egger, Sturmbauer & Sefc 2007 — Evolutionary history of Lake Tanganyika's scale-eating cichlid fishes (Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.)