Limnochromis staneri "Chituta Bay"

Chituta Baychee-TOO-tah BAY (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 Greenwoodochromis staneri account →

Specific to Chituta Bay

  • 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 Greenwoodochromis staneri.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size7.5 in19 cm total length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH8.6–9.3alkaline
Depth82 ft25 m
DietBenthic invertivore
BreedingBiparental mouthbrooderup to ~200 eggs (genus-typical, undocumented for this species)
Sexual dimorphismYesWeak; males grow somewhat larger with slightly longer fins, ripe females show a rounder belly and (in congeners) a touch more forebody sheen
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Chituta Bay population

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

Colour reference: living Chituta Bay fish at tanganyika.si

About the species

Greenwoodochromis staneri is a deep-living cichlid endemic to the southern reaches of Lake Tanganyika, where it patrols the dim sand-and-rubble bottom well below the depths most divers ever reach. Described by Max Poll in 1949, it is now more correctly placed in the genus Greenwoodochromis, and it belongs to the Limnochromini — a small tribe of benthic deepwater fishes whose hallmark is biparental mouthbrooding, with both mother and father sharing custody of the eggs. Rarely collected and almost never seen alive, it is one of the lake's genuinely obscure cichlids, better known from museum jars and a handful of underwater photographs than from any aquarium.

Full Greenwoodochromis staneri account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Limnochromis staneri "Chituta Bay"
  2. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes — staneri, Limnochromis (Poll 1949); current status Greenwoodochromis staneri
  3. FishBase — Greenwoodochromis staneri summary (size, distribution, sand-dweller, IUCN, trophic level)
  4. GBIF — Greenwoodochromis staneri (Poll, 1949) taxon and occurrence records
  5. Takahashi (2014) — Greenwoodochromini synonymized with Limnochromini; new combination Greenwoodochromis staneri (J. Fish Biology)
  6. Duftner et al. (2005) — Evolutionary relationships of the Limnochromini, a tribe of benthic deepwater cichlids endemic to Lake Tanganyika (J. Molecular Evolution)
  7. IUCN Red List — Limnochromis staneri "Chituta Bay"