Rainbow goodeid

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep six or more, with extra females, in 57 liters or larger at 16 to 24 C, pH 7.0 to 8.2, in hard water. Feed small frozen and live foods like daphnia, cyclops, and brine shrimp plus some vegetable flake. Rival males spar and display, so give cover and floor space, and avoid warm water community tanks. Males reach about 4 to 5 cm, females about 6 cm.

In the wild

A small, jewel colored goodeid that likes cooler, very clean water than most tropicals. Males glow with blue to green flanks, red or orange fin edges, and a dark bar on the side. Keep a group in a planted tank with hard water and gentle flow, and keep the temperature on the cool side. Frequent water changes keep them healthy.

Good to know

Characodon lateralis is one of the northernmost goodeids and is considered endangered as its Durango spring habitats shrink. Females carry young for around 55 days, feeding them internally through trophotaeniae, and give birth to roughly 5 to 20 large fry. Males court with an andropodium rather than a gonopodium.

Did you know

Different Durango spring populations vary in color, so hobbyists keep them as separate location forms to preserve that local variation.

Related species

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  Spotted skiffia

  Skiffia multipunctata

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• Golden skiffia

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• 

  Redtail splitfin

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• Bumblebee goodeid

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• Jeweled splitfin

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