They prefer water with ample plant cover, and occur naturally as far north as DR Congo and Tanzania.

[2] The identity of the person honoured in the specific name is uncertain but it is probably the Swedish naturalist Anders Sparrman (1748-1820) who was in the Cape in 1775.

[3] Africa: middle Congo River basin in the Kwilu, Kwango, Kasai drainage and Lomami, upper Congo River basin including the Lualaba, upper Lualaba, Lufira, Upemba region, Luvua, Lake Mweru, Luapula and Bangweulu, Cunene, Okavango, Lake Ngami, Zambezi, Limpopo, northern tributaries of the Orange River, upper Cuanza, Sabi, Lundi and Lake Malawi.

Found in widely diverse habitat, it favors areas where plant cover exists along the edges of rivers, lakes or swamps, but tends to be confined to shallow weedy areas, so it does not build up large populations in deep lakes.

It undertakes seasonal upstream migration and breeds before and during these migrations[2] A relatively small species, so unlikely to play much of a role in capture fisheries, but cultured in ponds in Njombe, Tanzania, and apparently stocked into Lake Kiungululu, Tanzania, where it is not presently exploited.