Fighting gaucho

Care at a glance

Overview

Because it is small and fairly gentle, a pair or trio is comfortable in a planted 20 litre species tank at 18 to 24 C and pH 6.0 to 7.0. Keep it cool and shaded, and do not mix it with boisterous fish. Feed small live and frozen foods such as daphnia, micro worm, baby brine shrimp, and finely chopped bloodworm. Spawn over peat and store the eggs damp for a couple of months.

In the wild

This tiny annual lives in temporary marshes and grassy pools that dry out each year in a subtropical climate. Males are slender with a dark side stripe and red and blue markings in the fins, and stay under 5 cm. A small, densely planted tank of about 20 litres with dim light and a soft bottom suits a pair or trio.

Good to know

Cynopoecilus melanotaenia is unusual among killifish for using internal fertilisation, a trait it shares only with its close relative Campellolebias. It is an annual species whose eggs survive the dry season buried in the substrate. It is the type species of its genus and part of a complex of very similar southern Brazilian killifish.

Did you know

Unlike almost all other killifish, which fertilise eggs in the water, the male fertilises the female internally before she lays.

Related species

• 

  Magnificent killifish

  Hypsolebias magnificus

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

  Nematolebias whitei

  3.1 in (8 cm)14 gal (54 L)68–77°F (20–25°C)
• Argentine pearlfish

  Austrolebias bellottii

  2.8 in (7 cm)14 gal (54 L)61–75°F (16–24°C)

• 

  Argentine Pearl Killifish

  Austrolebias nigripinnis

  2.8 in (7 cm)18 gal (70 L)64–75°F (18–24°C)
• Cobalt blue goby

  Stiphodon semoni

  1.8 in (4.5 cm)13 gal (50 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Eggers' notho

  Nothobranchius eggersi

  2 in (5 cm)11 gal (40 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)