The Nothobranchius Cardinalis comes from East Africa. As annual fish they live for one season in the wild, in the aquarium they can get about 3 years.  Their habitat consists of temporary pools which fall dry during the dry season. Eventually the adults die off.  With the new rains they eggs hatch and the new fry forms a new generation.

Get the Nothobranchius Cardinalis eggs in the shop!

Caring for the Nothobranchius Cardinalis is not that hard at all. A minimum of 40 litre fish tank is required for every 3 fish. The water should be soft with a temperature between 21 and 27 degrees. The tank should be well planted for shelter and protection of the females and can be  decorated with wood or stone.

Their diet consists of almost all kinds of food. They take flake food or pellets with no problems, but prefer frozen or live food, especially red mosquito larvae, frozen or live.

They can be kept in a community tank with other similar sized fish, although a species tank is more suited especially if you want to breed them.

Breeding is not so difficult, you can just put in fine substrate like paet moss or coco fibres as ground and they will readily spawn. Need not be a thick layer as they deposit the eggs more or less in the upper 1 cm layer of the soil. In my experience they can stay in water and after a couple of weeks you will find the newly hatched fry.

A better alternative is to transfer them to a breeding tank. No ground or soil, no filter, only a plastic or glass container or bowl, filled with peat moss or coco fibre. They readily accept this container. After a week you remove the fish and dry the peat moss of the container. After 2 month you can water the moss and the fry will hatch within 24 hours. This set up you can use also as a permanent set up, although it does not look as attractive as a fully decorated tank.

You can get eggs of this species in the shop or at aquabid.