Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Xenotilapia bathyphila

Xenotilapia bathyphila "Chimba"Deepwater xenotilapia

Xenotilapia bathyphila (Burundi, Chimba, Congo, Gombe NP, Kigoma, Mtoto, Zambia)

Chimba — CHEEM-bah (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 Xenotilapia bathyphila account →

Specific to Chimba

  • 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 Xenotilapia bathyphila.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2006
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesXenotilapia simaBoulenger 1899
Scientific size4 in10.3 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Hardness (GH)up to 357 ppm
Habitat waterhard · 600–690 µS/cmLake Tanganyika
Depth328 ft100 m
DietBenthic invertivore; sifts sand for copepods, small shrimps, insect larvae and other micro-invertebrates.
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~20–40 eggs (hobby reports)
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak but present: males slightly larger and more colourful (turquoise upper lip, stronger blue-and-yellow dorsal markings); females plainer and more silvery.
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chimba population

Xenotilapia bathyphila "Chimba" is the Chimba population of Xenotilapia bathyphila, a geographic colour form from the Zambia coast of Lake Tanganyika in the central part of the lake. It is the same species as Xenotilapia bathyphila, distinguished by its collection locality and local coloration; aquarists keep and breed it as a discrete, provenance-labelled line.

Colour reference: living Chimba fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Xenotilapia bathyphila is a slender, sand-sifting cichlid found only in Lake Tanganyika, where it patrols the open sandy floor in loose schools and strains tiny invertebrates from mouthfuls of substrate. Its name literally means "deep-loving," a nod to the relatively deep sand flats it favors. A member of the lake's sand-dwelling Ectodini tribe, it is a maternal mouthbrooder that carries its young to safety in the most exposed habitat in the lake — wide-open sand with nowhere to hide.

Full Xenotilapia bathyphila account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Xenotilapia bathyphila "Chimba"
  2. FishBase — Xenotilapia bathyphila (Poll, 1956)
  3. GBIF — Xenotilapia bathyphila Poll, 1956
  4. Catalog of Fishes (Eschmeyer / CAS) — Xenotilapia species record
  5. Sefc et al. — Mating and Parental Care in Lake Tanganyika's Cichlids (biparental mouthbrooding in Xenotilapia)
  6. Koblmüller et al. — Evolutionary relationships in the sand-dwelling cichlid lineage (Ectodini) of Lake Tanganyika
  7. IUCN Red List — Xenotilapia bathyphila "Chimba"
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