Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Xenotilapia sima

Xenotilapia sima "Moliro"

Moliro — moh-LEE-roh (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 sima account →

Specific to Moliro

  • 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 sima.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size5.5 in14 cm standard length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth115–328 ft35–100 m
DietCarnivorous sand-sifter: takes mouthfuls of sand and strains out insect larvae, small gastropods and other buried invertebrates
BreedingMaternal mouthbrooder~50-60 fry
Sexual dimorphismYesModest: males grow larger than same-age females, develop somewhat more pointed dorsal and anal fins, and intensify in color when displaying
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Moliro population

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

Colour reference: living Moliro fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Xenotilapia sima is a sand-sifting cichlid endemic to Lake Tanganyika, a member of the tribe Ectodini — the lake's radiation of open-bottom specialists. Sometimes traded as the big-eyed Xenotilapia, it lives in schools over sand and mud, often well below the wave zone, and feeds the way a South American eartheater does: by taking mouthfuls of substrate and straining buried invertebrates through its gills. Its most under-appreciated quirk is taxonomic rather than biological — for decades the fish circulating in the hobby as 'Xenotilapia sima' was actually its look-alike Xenotilapia boulengeri, and the real species was probably not imported until 2008. It is a beautiful, peaceable fish that earns a reputation among keepers as one of the more delicate, easily-spooked Tanganyikans.

Full Xenotilapia sima account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Xenotilapia sima "Moliro"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Xenotilapia sima (Boulenger, 1899)
  3. FishBase — Xenotilapia sima summary
  4. GBIF — Xenotilapia Boulenger, 1899 (Backbone Taxonomy)
  5. Takahashi & Nakaya 1997 — A taxonomic review of Xenotilapia sima and X. boulengeri (Ichthyological Research)
  6. Koblmüller et al. 2004 — Evolutionary relationships in the sand-dwelling cichlid lineage of Lake Tanganyika (Ectodini phylogeny)