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When it comes to the blog interviews, I would be doing you, the reader, a disservice if I only targeted cichlidophiles in the United States. Fortunately, I’ve been able to interview fish keepers from all over the globe. In fact, today’s interviewee hails from Denmark. If you keep Lake Victoria cichlids, then you have probably heard of him – Kim Pedersen.
NOTE: All photos by Kim Pedersen unless otherwise noted.
Today’s interviewee comes by way of a dinner gathering back in November, 2025. I didn’t know Mike McKinney until a group of hobbyists attending the 2025 OCA Extravaganza met for dinner at a restaurant in Strongsville, OH just outside Cleveland. Though the meal itself was a highlight, getting to meet Mike that evening was the real reward.
This is a species that I have wanted to keep for a long time. The only stumbling block has been my inability to identify the appropriate composition of the mud they like, since it’s a mud-tunneler.
As anyone who knows me will attest, I am a huge lamprologine fan. In fact, that is nearly all I keep. Though species from the Telmatochromis genus are not necessarily my favorite in the tribe, I do enjoy keeping temporalis and “temporalis shell” (smaller cousin to the regular temporalis).
For the ‘Lamprologus’ ocellatus fans, the January 2025 edition of the journal Current Biology offers a very interesting paper about larval behavior and brood care. This species is a Lake Tanganyika shell dweller.
Cichlids build nests? Yes, some do. But don’t think of them necessarily like other nest building vertebrates (e.g., birds). Though some cichlid species do construct spawning sites out of nearby objects – leaves, rocks, and other natural or unnatural objects – this post is about a different type of nest.
In my opinion, the two best ways to learn about cichlids and their behavior is to observe them and/or read scientific journal articles. Obviously, observing them in their natural habitat is ideal, but most hobbyists don’t have ready access to that. As for journal articles, they can often be difficult to digest or even gain access to.
Did you know there is a cichlid species endemic to Lake Tanganyika that has evolved to eat the scales of fish? Read on.
Back in April, I stumbled upon a marvelous scholarly paper that focuses on the taxonomic diversity of Lake Tanganyika. In fact, I published a post about the paper. In that post, I wanted to include an image from the paper, so I reached out to the lead author for permission to reuse it. That author was Dr. Fabrizia Ronco. She quickly replied and granted me permission.
It has been a while since I posted an interview. However, I hope to have several on the way soon. I have two that I am in the process of formatting and editing. Those should be going up in the very near future.
I have two others still in the early stages but hope to have those up within a couple of months.