(This article was originally published in Freshwater and Marine Aquarium Magazine, Jun 1982; pp. 6-11, 83-88. It is here reproduced with the permission of author Dr. Paul V. Loiselle). A male Julidochromis transcriptus of the southern race sometimes sold under the trade name of "Julidochromis kissi". Photo by Paul V. Loiselle. Part One With the exceptions of Hemichromis thomasi and Tilapia ruweti, the African riverine dwarf cichlids are representatives of genera composed entirely of species that satisfy the definition of this group I proposed initially (Loiselle, 1979). To wit, they must be species in which the female, should sexual dimorphism obtain, does not exceed 8.0 cm SL, capable of coexisting peacefully with non-cichlids of approximately the same size and like to spawn successfully in a tank of 60 l capacity. Among the dwarf cichlids of Lake Tanganyika, this pattern is reversed. Only the three genera of goby cichlids comprise exclusively dwarf species. The remainder are dwarf representatives of genera containing species that fall well outside of even the rather flexible boundaries of this group. Not by the remotest stretch of the imagination is anyone likely to mistake Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus or Telmatochromis caninus for a dwarf cichlid! The Tanganyikan dwarf cichlids are also the only representatives of this group that include mouthbrooders among their number, though as it will soon become evident, mouthbrooders whose beh ...

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