Deepwater coptodon

Care at a glance

Overview

The deepwater coptodon is a small crater-lake tilapia kept as a single fish or a pair. In the lake it stays down in deeper water, and in the tank it swims mainly through the middle and lower levels, taking a mixed omnivore's diet, so feed pellets and frozen foods with some vegetable matter. It is fairly peaceful for a tilapia but still holds a territory when spawning, so choose tankmates with care and give a pair room. A tank of around 250 liters with a sand floor, some rock, and soft to neutral water suits it. It is a rare fish, seldom seen outside specialist collections.

In the wild

Coptodon bythobates lives only in Lake Bermin, a small volcanic crater lake in Cameroon, where it keeps to deeper water below about eight meters. That water is warm and soft to neutral, so keep the pH between 6 and 7.5 and the temperature around 23 to 27 C. It is not demanding about decor: a sand floor, some rock and wood for structure, and clean, stable water matter most, along with enough depth of tank to let it feel secure.

Good to know

Coptodon bythobates is a small tilapia in the family Cichlidae, reaching about 13 to 15 centimeters. Its name means depth-walker, for its habit of living in the deeper water of its lake, below the reach of most of its relatives. It is a substrate spawner with a pair bond, both parents guarding the eggs and fry on an open surface rather than brooding them in the mouth. It is rarely bred in captivity.

Did you know

Lake Bermin is barely a kilometer across, yet this single small crater lake has produced a flock of around nine tilapia species found nowhere else. Each carved out its own niche, and this one took the deep water, the basement of a very small building.

Common questions

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