Graceful lamprologus

Neolamprologus gracilis

Also known as Lamprologus gracilis

FreshwaterFish

Graceful lamprologus (Neolamprologus gracilis) — (c) Sitron, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · cc-by-sa

Care at a glance

Temperature: 75–81°F (24–27°C)
pH: 7.8–9.0
Adult size: 3.5 in (9 cm)
Minimum tank: 42 gal (160 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Lake Tanganyika
Family: Cichlidae

Overview

This slender Tanganyikan lives in colonies, so keep a small group rather than a single fish and let it settle into a natural structure of pairs and helpers. It hovers in the water just above the rocks, dropping into caves and crevices for shelter and spawning. It can live in a community of other calm Tanganyikans rather than a tank of its own kind, though a breeding pair defends the area right around its cave. A group is comfortable in a tank of around 160 liters or more. Feed small foods that suit a mid water feeder: quality flake and micro pellet, plus frozen cyclops, daphnia, and brine shrimp.

In the wild

The graceful lamprologus drifts over Lake Tanganyika's deeper rocky slopes, staying close to the stone it shelters in. Give it the lake's very hard, alkaline water, warm at 24–27 C and high on the pH scale, around 7.8–9.0, with piles of rock and vertical faces broken by caves and crevices over a sandy floor. Stable chemistry and clean water are important for these rift lake fish.

Good to know

Neolamprologus gracilis is a member of the family Cichlidae reaching about 9 centimeters, a slim, lyre finned cichlid of the savoryi group and a close relative of the popular brichardi. It is a cave spawner and a colonial breeder: older young often stay on and help guard the next batch of fry, so a colony holds several generations at once, and getting one to spawn is of moderate difficulty.

Did you know

In these colonies, raising the young is a shared job: earlier offspring stay on to help defend and tend later broods rather than leaving, one of the clearest cases of cooperative breeding known in fishes.

Tank mates

Graceful lamprologus is a mostly peaceful, social species that keeps to the middle. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.