Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Xenochromis hecqui

Xenochromis hecqui "Ndole Bay"

Ndole Bay — n-DOH-leh BAY (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 Ndole Bay

  • 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 Ndole Bay population

Xenochromis hecqui "Ndole Bay" is the Ndole Bay population of Xenochromis hecqui, a geographic colour form from the Zambia coast of Lake Tanganyika in the southern 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 Ndole Bay 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 "Ndole Bay"
  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.)