This beautiful cichlid from Lake Tanganyika belongs to the dwarf cichlids. Males become around 5.5 cm, females around 3.5 cm long. At the first glimpse one would think that these tiny fish are “snail brooders”, e.g. that the females would spawn only in empty snail shells. However, this is not true. In their natural habitat these cichlids settle on muddy bottom. Here they dig tubes in the ground of about 1 cm diameter which can be up to 12 cm long. Although L. signatus accepts empty snail shells in the aquarium this is only an “emergency program”, which is used in case they have no other opportunity. In contrast to almost all other species of Lamprologus the eggs of L. signatus are not adhesive at all. This is a special adaption to their type of breeding, as there is no opportunity nor any benefit in attaching eggs in a mudhole.
Keeping Lamprologus signatus is very easy. The males are very aggressive against each other, so it is best to keep the fish by pair or one male with a number of females. Like all cichlids from Lake Tanganyika L. signatus prefers hard, slightly alcalic water and temperatures of about 25 to 28°C. In nature they feed on small animals, in the aquarium they accept readily any type of usual fishfood that fits the mouth.
For our customers: the fish have code 549401 on our stocklist. Please note that we exclusively supply the wholesale trade.
Lexicon: Lamprologus: means “the one that wears gloss”; refers to the shining spots on each scale of L. congoensis, the type species. signatus: Latin, means “the marked one”.
Suggestion of a common name: Tanganyika Zebra Dwarf Cichlid
Text & Photos: Frank Schäfer
| Angaben zum Tier | |
|---|---|
| Herkunft | Nachzucht / bred |
| Verfügbare Größe in cm | 3-5 |
