Lake Tanganyika

Lake Tanganyika veiwed from space
Photo by N.A.S.A

Lake Tanganyika is in the African Rift Valley is 420 miles long and between 10 to 50 miles wide. It is the worlds second deepest Lake with a maximum depth of  1,435 m.

The temprature of the water varies very little and is between 23 C to 24 C, but in the shallows  it can be from 23 C to 28 C.

The water chemistry is as follows

• pH readings from Lake Tanganyika vary from pH 8 to over pH 9.
• GH 9 to 11, KH 15.
  
  (Taken from the Lake by Dahne Verlag, Aqualex Catalog).

The fish found in the lake have become very specialised and some show an almost parallel evolution to marine fish. The Cichlids form the main group of fish in the lake and many of these are of some interest to aquarist.

Although most of these fish lack the bright colours found in the fishes of lake Malawi they make up for this by having such specialised and interesting ways of life.