Golden skiffia

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep six or more in 60 liters or larger at 20 to 26 C, pH 7.2 to 8.0, in hard water. Feed a mostly vegetable diet with spirulina flake, blanched greens, and small frozen foods such as daphnia. Best in a species tank or with other calm goodeids, since this is a conservation fish worth breeding carefully. Adults stay around 5 to 6 cm.

In the wild

A small golden goodeid kept alive almost entirely by hobbyists and public aquariums after its home stream was degraded. Keep a group in a planted tank with hard, alkaline water and gentle flow. Mature males take on a warm golden to bronze sheen. They graze algae and take small prepared and live foods.

Good to know

Skiffia francesae was declared extinct in the wild in the 1990s after water extraction, pollution, and invasive species wiped out its Rio Teuchitlan population. It survived only in aquaria until a captive bred reintroduction released over a thousand fish into the wild in 2022. Like all goodeids, females nourish their young internally through trophotaeniae.

Did you know

The 2022 reintroduction of the golden skiffia was one of the first times an extinct in the wild fish was returned to its native river, using descendants of fish kept by aquarists.

Related species

• 

  Spotted skiffia

  Skiffia multipunctata

  2.4 in (6 cm)16 gal (60 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Rainbow goodeid

  Characodon lateralis

  2.4 in (6 cm)15 gal (57 L)61–75°F (16–24°C)

• 

  Tequila splitfin

  Zoogoneticus tequila

  2.6 in (6.5 cm)20 gal (75 L)68–79°F (20–26°C)

• 

  Redtail splitfin

  Xenotoca eiseni

  2.8 in (7 cm)20 gal (75 L)64–82°F (18–28°C)
• Bumblebee goodeid

  Allotoca dugesii

  2.8 in (7 cm)20 gal (75 L)64–79°F (18–26°C)
• Jeweled splitfin

  Xenotoca variata

  2.8 in (7 cm)20 gal (75 L)64–81°F (18–27°C)