Tropheus, Pirates and Sundried Cyathopharynx!
An interview with Carl Westholm by Fredrik Hagblo

To actually see your favourite cichlids in the wild is a dream for most cichlid hobbyists and several years ago I started making plans to get a divers certificate and looking at ways to get down to lake Tanganyika. Sadly I still haven’t been able to fulfil my dream of going on a cichlid safari but while checking the possibilities I came across a fellow Swede and cichlid hobbyist Carl Westholm from Stockholm.

First of all Carl, was it your interest in cichlids and aquaria that fist brought you to Africa?

-I am, and have been interested in Africa for many reasons but it was actually my interest in Cichlids, diving and some weird friends coincidences that brought me to Africa.

What species of cichlids do you keep today?

- Cichlids from Lake Tanganyika, mostly sandsifters of the genus Xenotilapia and some shell dwellers and I'm waiting for a big group of Cyprichromis leptosoma. It may not seem so but I like other cichlids as well and I will probably in the future also go diving with cichlids in other parts of the world.

Do you need to be a certified diver and use advanced equipment to get close to cichlids in the lake or will it work with just a mask and a snorkel?

-The snorkelling is good but as many of the interesting species go deeper you will miss a lot and you will get frustrated after a while, so even if I snorkel a lot I would definitely recommend scuba equipment. If you talk about Tropheus that will be even more important because, even though they are abundant in most places, they are one of the hardest to get really close to, you need to be still for some time and a snorkel will not give you that time.

Do you really see cichlids all the time as you dive or do you have to search for them?

-You see cichlids all the time, everywhere you swim.

Are Tropheus found on rocky bottoms or along vertical cliffs?

-Both, but mostly in rocky habitat.

Are Tropheus ever seen in colonies similar to how they are mostly kept in the aquarium?

-No, almost never, they keep a little distance between each other, appears to be territorial, in a couple of square meters you might see 10-20 of them and they fight, fight and fight all day long. Sometimes though, as mentioned above, they can be seen eating in quite big schools, but somehow, that seem to be more usual with T.brichardi, but I can be wrong there...

Have you ever seen several variants of Tropheus at the same location?

-Different species yes, T.moori and brichardi in Tanzania. (at tobys place you can see some "refugees" from his pond, some sp.red swimming with the moori "Kalambo")

I have heard that Petrochromis and Tropheus work together in a way that the "Petros" with their strong jaws rip large pieces of sediment from various surfaces and then Tropheus follow behind to grab the left over. Have you ever seen this in the lake?

-Sometimes I’ve seen them eating at the same place, but it’s hard to tell if it’s really cooperation or just by accident when tumble around eating, but... yes, I’ve seen it.

Have you actually seen Tropheus or petros spawn in the wild?

-Yes, several times, I think I got some bad picture or two of it as well.

When you see them spawning, can you actually see males claim a spawning grounds on to which they intent to bring the female for spawning?

-Hard to tell, you never see them do any preparations, they are territorial but my impression is that they try to spawn with the females wherever they find them within their territory, there does not seem to bee any "special stone" or dedicated place for spawning, they get interrupted all the time and can start over at a new stone. But then again... I leave reservations if someone has done other observations.

Do you ever see fry close to adults in the wild?

-If you mean Tropheus or Petrochromis I have never seen fry close to the adults, but other species Yes, all the time, you see parents taking care of fry everywhere, in some places you can see, for example, Perissodus microlepis pairs letting their fry out and 20cm away you see Neolamprologus caudopunctatus with fry and, and just 20-40 cm more you can see next pair of another species with fry.

Have you ever seen anything that you suspect might be a new species?

-Maybe not new species but definitely observations that differ from the ones in books, as an example I can mention that it seems like the Cyprichromis sometimes migrate long distances, they didn’t look that same as last year I was there... I might be wrong of course. New color variants you see all the time.

What genus seems to be the most common of Tropheus, Pertochromis, Simochromis?

-That depend on where you are, I can’t really answer that question. At Tobys place near Kalambo in the shallow water you see allot of Simochromis, at bit deeper near the rocks at 3-5 m the Tropheus get more common, but as I said above, hard to tell.

What seem to be the behavioral differences between Simochromis, Pertrochromis and Tropheus in the wild?

-Oh that’s hard to tell, Simochromis pick a slightly different habitat, with more sand and even vegetation, Tropheus and Petrochromis are more abundant in the rocky habitat.

-One thing that puzzled me , and some of the other divers, is that Tropheus seem to behave different at different locations, sometimes you can get close to them but at some other dive site you don’t, and at some places you see just a few, very territorial individuals and at another site there can be many more of them, and a more dense population. Of course this can be due to a lot of other things or maybe be variations over time ,but we all got the impression that different Tropheus populations behave different compared to another.

What does it cost to go on a cichlid safari?

-Two weeks, all included from your doorstep and back, 3500USD

How do you live while on a cichlid safari and what preparations might
be needed?

-We have lived at Tobys place or in tents, you don’t need much preparations, Tobys employees fix the food, just bring dive equipment, some smart thing like torchlight, and the normal camping gear.

How dangerous is it really to dive in lake Tanganyika? I've heard of Alligators, Hippos, Water Cobras and even pirates?

-If you stay away from the national park you don’t need to bother about Crocodiles, I saw one, quite small the first year I visited the lake but that’s all. And remember, the local divers often dive in the national parks as well, and many other divers do as well and there have never been any accidents as I know of, one of Toby Vealls divers lost a bit of his fin in Sumbu once but that’s the closest I’ve heard of.

Hippos the same, probably even lesser risk, I don’t think they like the deep clear water at all.

Toby told me about a film team from discovery channel (or something similar) spending several months at his place looking for the Water cobra without finding any! Ad Konings once told me he have encountered one or two, but the have no reason at all to attack humans underwater so they won’t be a problem. Of course when I saw snakes, as I did three or four times, my heart stopped for a moment before I realized there was no danger.

The disease Shistosomiasis, or "Bilharzia" as It’s also called, will not be a threat in the open water, there is a small, small risk if you stay long in the shallow water close to a village where you have women washing clothes and kids playing in the water (and using the beach as toilet) and furthermore, Shistosomiasis is a curable disease and not a reason to stay out of water! (despite what some parasitofobic people sometimes say)

Zambia and Tanzania is safe counties around the lake, there has been talk about "pirates" from Congo that rob people across the lake in Tanzania many years ago but it’s probably still safer to sleep in a tent in Zambia or Tanzania than take a late walk in the central Stockholm! Congo and Burundi though is not safe! Burundi perhaps but not Congo, I wouldn’t go there without armed escort until that county get more stable. There seem to be disagreement about where the border between Zambia and Congo go so we didn’t go further north than Katete.

Have you ever been deep enough to encounter a C. frontosa?

-Oh yes.... Sometimes the fish doesn’t act as we read in the books, at Fulwe rocks I saw several frontosas at only 7-8 m, and normally you start see them at 15-20 m, and then of course deeper. You often see fish at unexpected depths, Tropheus at 20m, N. occelatus at 5m and so on..

Do you bring fish home that you catch your self?

-I caught 14 gobys(Eretmodus cyanostictus) at Tobys place in at Kalambo falls lodge but I didn’t manage to get them alive to the airport in Lusaka, a lot of things happened, heat in a bus and so on, and it can have something to do with the amount of wine I ended up drinking in Luskaka when I was supposed to repack the fish. But some of the other got some fish home, but just a couple.

Do you eat cichlids while you are visiting the lake?

-Oh yes, I’ve eaten a lot of cichlids, fried Cyprichromis "jumbo", sundried Cyathopharynx Foai and, my favourite, Boulengerochromis microlepis, even a big Oreochromis. I’ve seen local kids have a quick lunch on fish that would cost us several hundred Dollars at home.

I read in an interview with Ad Konings that he thought it was a lot easier to photograph cichlids in the lake than in an aquarium. Do you agree?

-To some extent yes, I’m not an experienced photographer but my pictures under water seem to be better then the ones at home.

Do all individuals show perfect colors in the lake?

-Not all but most of them, but as in your tank, there are a lot of individual small differences among the populations.

Tropheus moorii "Isanga" Photo: Carl Westholm

What type of camera equipment do you use?

-A small compact digital camera, not special at all, just a good camera and an underwater housing. The strobe in the small cameras seem to be the week spot, I’ve used a slave strobe that triggers by a photo optic cable that covers the inbuilt strobe, not a good solution but it worked OK. Quite much I didn’t use strobe at all.

Is there something in the lake that you have been looking for but still haven’t seen?

-Actually yes. I spent some time looking for Neolamprologus signatus without finding any even though I knew they where supposed to be there somewhere…..
I would also like to see Haplotaxon microlepis taking care of their offspring, a lovely and odd fish by the way.

Any plans for new safaris?

-Just vague plans right now. Me and Lars Andersson have some plans about going to the northern or middle part of the lake later this year. There will definitely be more diving in lake Tanganyika for me.