Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Neolamprologus ocellatus

Lamprologus ocellatus "Chisanse"

Chisanse — chee-SAHN-seh (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 ocellatus account →

Specific to Chisanse

  • 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 ocellatus.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2.5 in5.8 cm total length
Temperature73–77 °F23–25 °C
pH8–9alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 339 ppm
Depth16–164 ft5–50 m
DietMicro-carnivore; picks small crustaceans, insect larvae, and other zoobenthos from the sand and water column near its shell
BreedingSubstrate spawner (inside empty Neothauma snail shell)Small clutch; eggs hatch in ~3 days, fry free-swimming by ~10 days
Sexual dimorphismYesMales larger (to ~5 cm); females smaller (3–4 cm), often with white-lipped dorsal and anal fins vs. more orange-tinged fins in males
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chisanse population

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

Colour reference: living Chisanse fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Neolamprologus ocellatus is a thumb-sized cichlid that lives its entire life inside a single empty snail shell on the sandy floor of Lake Tanganyika. Despite measuring barely two inches, it is one of the lake's most pugnacious residents, excavating sand with its mouth to bury and angle its shell-home and squaring up to fish many times its size. Its compact biology and outsized personality have made the "ocellated shell-dweller" one of the most-kept Tanganyikan cichlids in the hobby.

Full Neolamprologus ocellatus account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Lamprologus ocellatus "Chisanse"
  2. Lamprologus ocellatus — FishBase species summary
  3. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Fricke, Eschmeyer & Van der Laan, eds.)
  4. Lamprologus ocellatus (Steindachner, 1909) — GBIF Backbone Taxonomy
  5. Brandtmann, Scandura & Trillmich (1999) — Female-female conflict in the harem of a snail cichlid (Lamprologus ocellatus), Behaviour 136:1123-1144
  6. Female aggression and male peace-keeping in a cichlid fish harem (Lamprologus ocellatus)
  7. IUCN Red List — Lamprologus ocellatus "Chisanse"