Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Xenotilapia nigrolabiata

Xenotilapia nigrolabiata "Chituta Bay"

Xenotilapia nigrolabiata (Chituta Bay)

Chituta Bay — chee-TOO-tah 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 Xenotilapia nigrolabiata account →

Specific to Chituta 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 Xenotilapia nigrolabiata.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2006
CARESNOT LISTED
Genus type speciesXenotilapia simaBoulenger 1899
Scientific size5 in13 cm standard length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Habitat waterhard · 600–690 µS/cmLake Tanganyika
Depth197–558 ft60–170 m
DietBenthic micro-invertebrate sifter; small crustaceans and invertebrates picked from the upper sediment layer
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~10-15 eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesBody shape monomorphic; males carry a vivid red-to-orange dorsal-fin blotch (geographically variable) and reach the larger maximum size, females slightly smaller and duller
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chituta Bay population

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

Colour reference: living Chituta Bay fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Xenotilapia nigrolabiata is a slender, sand-dwelling cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, best known in the hobby under the trade name "Red Princess" for the crimson blotch males flag in the dorsal fin. A member of the sand-specialist tribe Ectodini, it sifts small invertebrates from soft bottoms in deep water and broods its young in the mouth. It is one of the more peaceable, and more demanding, Tanganyikan sand-sifters a keeper can take on.

Full Xenotilapia nigrolabiata account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Xenotilapia nigrolabiata "Chituta Bay"
  2. FishBase: Xenotilapia nigrolabiata
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (California Academy of Sciences)
  4. Koblmüller et al. (2012), Repeated Parallel Evolution of Parental Care Strategies within Xenotilapia (PLoS ONE / PMC)
  5. O'Reilly et al. (2003), Climate change decreases aquatic ecosystem productivity of Lake Tanganyika, Nature (PubMed)
  6. Cohen et al. (2016), Climate warming reduces fish production and benthic habitat in Lake Tanganyika, PNAS
  7. IUCN Red List — Xenotilapia nigrolabiata "Chituta Bay"
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