Neolamprologus multifasciatus

Lake Tanganyika, separating Tanzania from the DRC, is the deepest and oldest of the big African rift lakes. It is one of the wonder of evolution and hosts (or used to) countless endemic species, especially cichlids. Somehow, the Tanganyikan cichlids are less colourful overall than the Malawi and Victoria ones. They are fascinating in behaviour though. One aspect of Lake Tanganyika is the its waters are so hard that snail shells do not dissolve, causing deep layers of shells covering parts of the lake's bottom. A couple of cichlid species have specialized in colonizing these areas. Throughout the lake, N. multifasciatus is common, according to IUCN.

If you have information about or footage of this fish in the wild, please reach out to us.

Multi shelldwellers, N. multifasciatus, can be kept in a small tank. A colony of 4 or 6 with likely thrive in a 60cm tank. They breed continuously and do not eat their fry - or siblings. Soon, you will have a tank with various generations of multis mixed together. They use sand to build 'walls' around the shells the colonize. If you flatten out the sand in your tank, they will not tire until they have reshaped the landscape to their wishes all over again. (For breeding purposes, we do not recommend disturbing them this way.) They eat everything, but need proteins. Unfrozen brine shrimp seems perfect for them. For the fry, we use fry powder. They are big enough to take this and recognize it as edible immediately. No strict need for live food. Temperature we keep around 25 degrees. Lighting is not necessary as they live deep in the lake where no plants grow (Anubias in the photo is not biotope-correct). The females grow to about 3,5 cm, males to about 5 cm. How to get the shells? We buy escargots in the supermarket, eat them, clean them thoroughly and throw them in the tank. (Get the air out.) Some garlic remains will not hurt the fish - in fact garlic is commonly used as medicine.