Lake Tanganyika, surrounded by Burundi, Congo, Tanzania and Zambia, offers a living environment for a large variety of cichlids. The lake itself can be divided into 3 biotopes.

There are many areas with open water and only one sandy bottom. There are also rock biotopes. These can be found along the coastline and at underwater reefs. Finally, there are the snail house mountains, large mountains of snail houses that serve as living space for smaller cichlid species.

The water in Lake Tanganyika is fairly hard. This should certainly be taken into account in the aquarium, especially when wild cichlids are kept. These are very sensitive to deviating and fluctuating water values.

The ideal water values ​​are as follows. Ammonia and Nitrite: nil, Nitrate: <20 ppm, Ph: 7.8 - 8.5, Gh: 12 - 20, Kh: 10 - 15 and the temperature between 22 and 25 degrees Celsius.

Overpopulation in a Tanganyika aquarium leads to a lot of unrest and hunting. This is because the breeding behavior of these cichlids is completely different from, for example, the Malawicichlids. Tanganyika cichlids all need their own territory to breed. Therefore, think carefully about the species that you want to keep before setting up the aquarium. Do you go for many open spaces, rocks or mountains with snail houses? Or a mix of the 3 biotopes of course. Make this clear before buying the fish.

The most common species are Cyphotilapia Frontosa (rock dwellers), Julidochromis (rock dwellers), Cyprichromis (free swimmers), Lamprologus (snail cichlids), Tropheus (rock dwellers) or Altolamprologus (rock dwellers)

Provide sufficient variety in terms of food. Flakes or granules with lots of protein for the robbers and lots of fiber for the herbivores. Live and frozen food adapted to the size of the cichlid.