Bluefin Notho

The bluefin notho is among the most vivid freshwater fishes in the hobby: the male carries a turquoise body scored all over with red scale edges and an orange tail rimmed in black, while the female stays a plain grey-beige. A member of the Nothobranchiidae, it rarely exceeds 6 cm and reaches full colour in barely three months. In Mozambique it lives in the ephemeral pools and swamps of the lower Pungwe and Zambezi floodplains, which fill with the rains and then dry out completely. That cycle governs its whole biology: the adults die with the pool, leaving only eggs buried in the mud. This is an annual killifish, and its life seldom runs past a year. In the aquarium, plan a species-only tank of 60 litres for a harem of one male and two or three females: males quarrel, and a lone female would be harried. Soft, slightly acidic water at 20–24 °C — warmth shortens its life — an air-driven sponge filter and dense planting. It refuses dry pellets: daphnia, brine shrimp and bloodworm, live or frozen. Eggs are harvested in peat and kept damp for months before rewetting.