Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus laparogramma

Lamprologus laparogramma "Mupapa"

Mupapa — moo-PAH-pah (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 Neolamprologus laparogramma account →

Specific to Mupapa

  • 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 Neolamprologus laparogramma.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2 in5 cm total length
Temperature73–81 °F23–27 °C
pH7.5–9alkaline
Depth16–131 ft5–40 m
DietPlanktivore; feeds on zooplankton (copepods and similar microcrustaceans) and small invertebrates drifting over the mud substrate
BreedingSubstrate spawner; spawns in self-excavated mud tunnels or empty Neothauma shells; non-adhesive eggs may be moved to the male's burrow~15 fry
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger (to ~5 cm TL) than females (~3 cm TL); females reportedly more vividly marked with yellow-beige body, orange-copper belly, and black-and-white dorsal blaze; males show darker longitudinal flank stripes
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Mupapa population

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

Colour reference: living Mupapa fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus laparogramma is a tiny, slender lamprologine cichlid endemic to the southern end of Lake Tanganyika, where it lives a burrowing life on open mud flats rather than the rocky shores most aquarists picture. One of a trio of "mud-tunnelers" alongside Lamprologus signatus and Lamprologus kungweensis, it excavates funnel-mouthed tunnels in soft sediment that serve at once as refuge, territory marker, and nursery. It is a fish defined less by color than by behavior: a small predator of plankton that, at the type locality near Mpulungu, can dominate the bottom community.

Full Neolamprologus laparogramma account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lamprologus laparogramma "Mupapa"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — Lamprologus laparogramma (valid as Neolamprologus laparogramma)
  3. FishBase — Lamprologus laparogramma summary
  4. FishBase — Bills & Ribbink 1997 reference summary (Ref. 42182)
  5. Bills, R.I. & Ribbink, A.J. 1997. Description of Lamprologus laparogramma sp. nov... (EBSCO record)
  6. Evolutionary history of the Lake Tanganyika cichlid tribe Lamprologini (PMC)
  7. IUCN Red List — Lamprologus laparogramma "Mupapa"