For more than a century the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika have been a focus of scientific attention, and many interesting facts regarding fish behavior have been learned from study of this complex fish community. During the last five decades almost all of the 226 known species have become available in the aquarium hobby, and most of them have proved to be excellent aquarium residents, permitting aquarists to make a considerable contribution to our knowledge of these fishes through observations in captivity.
This fourth, revised, edition of the definitive study of Lake Tanganyika cichlids discusses and illustrates more species than any previous publication. Basing his study on more than 800 hours of underwater observations all over the lake, the author characterizes the species by their habitat preferences, distribution, feeding and breeding behavior, and coloration. The more than 1200 photos illustrate all known Tanganyika cichlids, and the majority were taken in the lake, portraying the fish in their natural habitat. And the wealth of information on the natural environment this book contains will render it increasingly possible to maintain each species in the most natural way, allowing it to behave as if it were in the lake. Only by thus duplicating their normal environment can we expect to be treated to the natural behavior of these cichlids.
