Description

The Nothobranchius Cardinalis orginates from Tanzania. It inhabits temporary pools along the coast. They are annual fish, meaning they live for around a year in nature, in a tank they live for 2 – 3 years. In the wild their habitat consists of temporary pools. These pools are created by seasonal rains and dry up during the dry season. Thus the fish die having left behind their eggs buried in the river bed. During the dry period the eggs develop and when the rain returns, filling up the pools again, the embryos hatch.

Nothobranchius Cardinalis is semi-annual. It is found in fresh water pools with a temperature of around 25 degrees and a conductivity of about 380 µS. The location code tells about the village of Kiswere where it is found. This location type stays rather small, they reach a size of max. 5 cm.

Cardinal Nothobranchius  are not too well suited for community tanks, especially if you want to breed them.  If you just want to keep them the other fish should be of nearly the same size and of course the same water parameters. The minimum size for a tank is 60 liters, if in a community tank it must be larger of course, heavily planted to provide hideouts for the females. They prefer soft water and a temperature between 21 and 27 degrees.

A wide variety of food is accepted, although they prefer live food, frozen food or even flake food is taken readily.

They are not shy at all, soon they come to the front screen when they see the person who feeds them regularly.

This species is quite interesting but is not an ideal general beginner fish, but if you have a general experience in ornamental fish and you want to get into killifish, then it is quite a good beginner’s species.