Bluefin Notho

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep the bluefin notho as one male with several females, since males are intensely colored and can be pushy toward each other and toward single females. A soft, gently filtered tank with dark substrate and cover shows off its red and blue pattern. It is a hungry predator that thrives on live and frozen foods such as bloodworms, brine shrimp, daphnia and blackworms, and it grows and matures very quickly. It swims mostly through the middle of the tank. A tank of 80 liters or larger comfortably holds a small harem and a spawning tray of peat.

In the wild

Nothobranchius rachovii comes from seasonal pools and floodplain pans near the coast of Mozambique. These pools appear in the wet season and dry up as the dry season sets in, so the fish live only a few months as adults. To suit them, use soft, slightly acidic water, subdued light, and a deep tray of peat or coconut fiber for spawning. Keep them a little cooler than a typical tropical community, around 20 to 24 C, which lengthens their short lives and keeps the color strong.

Good to know

The bluefin notho is an African annual killifish in the family Nothobranchiidae, growing to about 6 cm, with males among the most colorful of all freshwater fish. It matures in roughly two to three months and rarely lives beyond a year even in good care. Like other Nothobranchius it is an annual spawner: the pair drive eggs into the soft bottom, and the eggs survive the dry season buried in damp substrate, passing through diapause. Breeding is rated hard because the eggs need a careful storage and hatching routine.

Did you know

Bluefin notho eggs can wait out the dry season buried in barely damp substrate for six months or more, holding in a paused state called diapause until fresh water tells them the rains have returned and it is safe to hatch.

Related species

• 

  Gunther's nothobranch

  Nothobranchius guentheri

  2.4 in (6 cm)11 gal (40 L)72–77°F (22–25°C)

• 

  Patrizi's notho

  Nothobranchius patrizii

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)11 gal (40 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Mafia killifish

  Nothobranchius korthausae

  2 in (5 cm)10 gal (38 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)

• 

  Kadlec's notho

  Nothobranchius kadleci

  2.4 in (6 cm)11 gal (40 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)
• Turquoise killifish

  Nothobranchius furzeri

  2.4 in (6 cm)11 gal (40 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Foersch's notho

  Nothobranchius foerschi

  2.2 in (5.5 cm)11 gal (40 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)