Blue-back blue-eye

The blue-back blue-eye is a tiny, sparkling rainbowfish relative from the tidal estuaries and mangrove creeks of northern Australia and New Guinea, where salinity fluctuates constantly. Males flash an iridescent blue back and finnage that intensifies during their dawn spawning displays. It is a peaceful, active micro-schooler best kept in groups of eight or more, ideally in a species tank or with other small brackish fish; lone or small groups become shy and lose color. Keep it in low-brackish water (around specific gravity 1.003 to 1.010), warm at 24 to 30 C, alkaline and moderately hard, with strong light and fine plants or spawning mops. Feed small live and frozen foods such as brine shrimp, cyclops, daphnia, and micro-pellets. Short-lived but readily bred among fine-leaved vegetation.