Tropheus sp. Black “Bemba” is from Lake Tanganyika. T. sp. Black has 6 color forms that I know of and I’m sure their will be some more added at some point. Each color form is designated by the location in the lake where they are found (Bemba, Bulu point, kariza, Karamba, Magara and Mboko). The group sp. Black was formerly in the moorii group.

To be successful with Tropheus there are some important things to remember.

Water quality – They need hard, alkaline (pH 8.2-8.4), well filtered water. I add 1 tablespoon of salt for every 5 gallons (non-iodized table salt and Epsom salt) and some African cichlid buffer. I have not found it necessary to use the premixed Rift Lake salts that are on the market. For filtration I use a Fluval canister filter and a sponge filter.

Food – Tropheus are mainly vegetarians. I feed mine a food that I make that has in it, peas, carrots, squash and shrimp. It is important to limit how much animal matter they are allowed to eat.

Breeding colony size – I have ten individuals in my group. I think that ten is a minimum sized group. If the group gets too small the dominate male will start to beat up the other fish. The best groups I’ve seen had about 40 individuals in it with only a few males. They were in a 150 gallon tank with only a couple of PVC pieces in the middle of the tank. There was almost no aggression in this setup.

Tropheus are mouth brooders. Their spawns are small with 8 considered to be a good spawn. The first time mine spawned I had three babies and the second time I had seven. I’ve had as many as seventeen babies from a Tropheus dubiosi. The eggs are larger than most cichlids and the fry are about a 1/4 “ when they are free swimming. The fry are easy to raise.