Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Cyphotilapia frontosa

Cyphotilapia frontosa "Kilima"

Kilima — kee-LEE-mah (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 Cyphotilapia frontosa account →

Specific to Kilima

  • 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 Cyphotilapia frontosa.

IUCNNEAR THREATENED · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size13 in33 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8–9alkaline
Depth33–164 ft10–50 m
Dietnocturnal piscivore (ambushes sardine cichlids) plus benthic invertebrates
Breedingmaternal mouthbrooder~20–50 large eggs
Sexual dimorphismYesmales larger with a bigger nuchal hump; colour similar
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Kilima population

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

Colour reference: living Kilima fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Cyphotilapia frontosa — the humphead or "frontosa" cichlid — is a large, deep-bodied predator endemic to the rocky slopes of Lake Tanganyika. Its bold blue-and-black banding and the swollen forehead hump that older fish grow make it unmistakable, but the fish behind the looks is a slow-growing, long-lived ambush hunter that gathers in loose colonies far deeper than most aquarium fish are ever seen. For most of the twentieth century it was thought to be the lake's only Cyphotilapia; that ended in 2003, when the southern populations were split off as a separate species, Cyphotilapia gibberosa — a distinction the hobby still routinely blurs.

Full Cyphotilapia frontosa account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Cyphotilapia frontosa 'Kilima'
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Cyphotilapia frontosa (species record)
  3. FishBase — Cyphotilapia frontosa (Humphead cichlid) summary
  4. FishBase — Cyphotilapia gibberosa summary
  5. GBIF.org — Cyphotilapia frontosa occurrence/taxon data
  6. Takahashi & Nakaya (2003), New species of Cyphotilapia from Lake Tanganyika, Copeia 2003(4):824-832
  7. Takahashi, Ngatunga & Snoeks (2007), Taxonomic status of the six-band morph of C. frontosa, Ichthyological Research 54:55-60 (PDF)
  8. IUCN Red List — Cyphotilapia frontosa "Kilima"