Magnificent killifish

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep one male with three or four females in a planted 38 litre species tank at 22 to 26 C and soft, acidic water of pH 5.5 to 7.0 with low carbonate hardness. It is peaceful enough to hold as a small group but is best kept on its own. Feed live and frozen brine shrimp, daphnia, and bloodworm. Spawn over a peat tray and store the collected eggs damp for several months.

In the wild

It lives in temporary rain pools in a dry region of inland eastern Brazil that vanish for months at a time. Males are patterned in gold, blue, and red with dark cross bars and speckled fins, while females are plain. A dim, soft-bottomed species tank of around 38 litres with gentle filtration and a tight lid works well.

Good to know

Hypsolebias magnificus is an annual killifish whose eggs pass the five to six month dry season in diapause before hatching with the rains. It was previously placed in the genus Simpsonichthys. In the wild it faces habitat loss, which makes captive-bred lines important.

Did you know

Fry grow so fast that they can reach breeding age in about three weeks, racing to reproduce before the next dry season.

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