Aquarist Atlas
↑ Collection form of Ophthalmotilapia boops

Ophthalmotilapia boops "Korongwe Bay"

Korongwe Bay — koh-ROHN-gweh 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 Ophthalmotilapia boops account →

Specific to Korongwe 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 Ophthalmotilapia boops.

IUCNLEAST CONCERN · 2025
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size6 in15 cm total length
Temperature72–79 °F22–26 °C
pH8.6–9.2alkaline
Hardness (GH)very hardup to 357 ppm
Depth7–33 ft2–10 m
DietBrowses biocover/algae (diatoms, filamentous algae) & associated micro-invertebrates; takes open-water plankton when available
BreedingMaternal (ovophilous) mouthbrooder~15–40 eggs (genus-typical, Konings)
Sexual dimorphismYesStrong: dominant males velvet-black with sky-blue patches and greatly elongated pelvic fins tipped with yellow 'egg-dummy' lappets; females and non-territorial males plain sooty grey-brown
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →

The Korongwe Bay population

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

Colour reference: living Korongwe Bay fish at tanganyika.si →

About the species

Ophthalmotilapia boops is one of Lake Tanganyika's "featherfin" cichlids, a velvet-black, blue-flecked rock-dweller endemic to the Tanzanian shore. Like its three congeners it pairs an algae-grazing mouth with an elaborate courtship: territorial males build sand craters on flat rocks and flag down females with vivid, tassel-tipped pelvic fins. It is rarer in the trade than its cousins and tied to a narrow stretch of coast, which makes the most prized color forms vulnerable to collection even though the species as a whole is still considered secure.

Full Ophthalmotilapia boops account →

Sources

  1. tanganyika.si — Ophthalmotilapia boops 'Korongwe Bay'
  2. Ophthalmotilapia boops — FishBase summary
  3. Ophthalmotilapia boops — FishBase field guide
  4. Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes (Cal. Acad. of Sciences)
  5. Hanssens, Snoeks & Verheyen (1999): A morphometric revision of the genus Ophthalmotilapia (Teleostei, Cichlidae)
  6. A morphometric revision of the genus Ophthalmotilapia — Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 125(4):487
  7. Evolution of egg dummies in Tanganyikan cichlid fishes — Journal of Evolutionary Biology
  8. IUCN Red List — Ophthalmotilapia boops "Korongwe Bay"