Tequila splitfin

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep six or more in 75 liters or larger at 20 to 26 C, pH 7.0 to 8.0, in hard water. Feed small frozen and live foods such as daphnia and cyclops plus a vegetable based flake. Good tankmates are other calm goodeids, or run a species tank, since fin nippers and boisterous fish stress them. Females reach about 6 cm, males a little smaller.

In the wild

A small, dark goodeid best kept in a group in a well planted tank with hard, alkaline water and gentle flow. Mature males show a bright orange to red crescent at the edge of the tail. They are peaceful for a goodeid and graze algae and small live foods. Stable, clean water suits them best.

Good to know

Zoogoneticus tequila was thought extinct in the wild after its tiny range collapsed, then a remnant population was found surviving in a single spring pool. It is a matrotrophic livebearer, feeding embryos internally through trophotaeniae, and produces small broods of large fry. It remains critically endangered.

Common questions

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