Spotted 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 medium hard to hard water. Offer a vegetable heavy diet of spirulina flake and blanched greens with some frozen daphnia and brine shrimp. They can nip fins, so keep robust tankmates or a species tank. Females reach about 6 cm, males slightly smaller.

In the wild

Spotted skiffias want a planted group tank with hard water and steady, clean filtration. Males are marked with irregular black blotches, and many develop orange or yellow over the body and fins. They spend much of the day grazing plants and surfaces for algae. A mature, well planted tank with some floating cover shows them at their best.

Good to know

Skiffia multipunctata is a goodeid livebearer with the family trademark trophotaeniae feeding the young internally. Males have a notched andropodium rather than the rod like gonopodium of guppies and mollies. Broods are modest, often 10 to 30 fry.

Did you know

The amount of black and orange varies a lot between individuals, so some males turn almost fully orange while others stay heavily spotted.

Related species

• Golden skiffia

  Skiffia francesae

  2.2 in (5.5 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)