Freshwater
Bulldog
Marcusenius macrolepidotus
Mormyridae
Facts
Characteristics
- Length
- Up to 32 cm
- Body shape
- Streamlined
Care
- Group
- Missing
- Smallest aquarium
- 786 liters
- Diet
- Missing
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Behavior
Water values
Smallest tank
Range
Native
Lives wild in Botswana, Congo - Kinshasa, Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Sudan, and 3 more countries.
More about the species
Description
Caught with dipnets in the Kafue floodplain, Zambia. Prefers well-vegetated, muddy bottomed marginal habitats of rivers and floodplains. A shoaling species which moves inshore after dark. Migrates within rivers. Recorded to move up tributaries in shoals during flood season. Feeds on invertebrates, especially midge and mayfly larvae and pupae taken from the bottom and off plant stems. Breeds during the rainy season in shallow vegetated localities; females carry up to 6,000 eggs. Possesses electroreceptors over the entire head and on the ventral and dorsal regions of the body, but absent from the side and the caudal peduncle where the electric organ is located.
Other names
Other scientific names
- Gnathonemus graeverti
- Gnathonemus macrolepidotus
- Gnathonemus macrolepidotus f. okavangensis
- Gnathonemus macrolepidotus macrolepidotus
- Gnathonemus moeruensis
- Gnathonemus okavangensis
In other languages
- Bulldogfisk
- Leukanuijakala
- Bulldog-fish, Elephant nose, Tana-bulldog
Articles
All articles
Ich (white spot)4 min read
The most common disease in aquarium fish. How to recognize it, why it shows up, and how to get rid of it.
How to set up an African aquarium5 min read
Two completely different aquariums: forest rivers with soft, brown water, roots and leaves, and Rift Valley lake cichlids in hard, alkaline water with big rock piles.
How to add new fish4 min read
From the store to the tank: how to get the fish used to your water, why you should add only a few at a time, and what to watch for in the first few days.
Quarantine for new fish3 min read
Why new fish should live in a tank of their own for a few weeks before they move in, what you need, and what to look for.