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Encyclopedia / Killifish / Turquoise killifish
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Variations

2 kinds · tap one for a closer look

Turquoise killifish

Nothobranchius furzeri · Turquoise killi, Furzeri, African killifish, Turquoise notho

Males are aggressive with each other; keep one male with 2-3 females in a small tank.

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7.5 cmBody length, without tail ✓
23–30 °CTemperature ✓
6.5–7.5pH ✓
30 LSmallest tank ✓
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Not recommended
  • White cloud mountain minnow needs cool water and makes a lot of waste, while Turquoise killifish is tropical.
  • They need different temperatures (23–30 °C vs 14–22 °C). No setting suits both.
Not recommended
  • Giant gourami eats animals up to about 10 cm. Turquoise killifish only grows to 7.5 cm.
Not recommended
  • They need different temperatures (23–30 °C vs 10–22 °C). No setting suits both.
With conditions
  • Only a narrow temperature range suits both: 23–24 °C.
With conditions
  • Only a narrow temperature range suits both: 23–24 °C.
Compatible
Compatible
Compatible
Compatible
Compatible

371 species in our list are a good match.

Facts checked against sources on 16 Oct 2026. ✓ means a source backs it; ? means no reliable source yet. See sources

Care and water

Hardness ✓4–15 dGH
Group size ?3 or more
Temperament ✓Semi-aggressive
Swims at ?Middle
Care level ?Hard
Diet Carnivore
Lifespan ✓0.25–0.8 years
Size in shops 3–5 cm
Growth Fast

Behavior

Males are aggressive with each other; keep one male with 2-3 females in a small tank.

Food

Live and frozen foods such as bloodworms, daphnia and brine shrimp.

Tap a food to see what it is.

Male or female

Males are brightly coloured with either a red or a yellow-and-black tail (two colour morphs); females are dull brownish.

Health

Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.

Breeding

Annual egg-burier (peat spawner) · Hard

Annual killifish: in the wild adults die when the pool dries and the eggs survive in the dry mud in diapause (a resting stage) until the next rains. In aquaria they spawn into peat or sand, and the eggs are stored in damp peat until they are ready to hatch.

Pairing

One male with 2-3 females.

Setup

Bare 20 L tank with a bowl of sterilised peat for spawning; soft water.

What starts it

Warm water and live food; spawn in peat.

Eggs

Wild females lay 20-120 eggs a day. Collect the peat every week or two, dry it to damp (like pipe tobacco) and store it sealed at 20-24 °C. Development time varies a lot: eggs can be eyed-up in 2-3 weeks at 27 °C or more, but often take months (FishBase: 5-7 months). Wet the eggs when the eyes are visible.

Raising the fry

Baby brine shrimp from day one; fast growth.

Common mistakes
  • Not dry-storing peat long enough
  • Wrong peat
  • Keeping in hard water
Full breeding guide, day-by-day plan and simulator →

Where it lives in the wild

RegionSouthern Mozambique & south-eastern Zimbabwe
Rivers and lakesGonarezhou area (Zimbabwe) and Limpopo lowlands
HabitatSeasonal pools that dry out every year
Native rangeAbout 300 km across
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The story of the turquoise killifish

Possibly the shortest-lived vertebrate known: in the wild it can mature 14 days after hatching, and the lab strain GRZ originally all died within 10 weeks. It lives in rain-filled pools in southern Mozambique and nearby Zimbabwe and survives the dry season as eggs. Discovered by R. E. Furzer in Zimbabwe in 1968 and described by Jubb in 1971; now a major model in ageing research.

Rex Jubb described this killifish in 1971 from fish collected by Richard Furzer in Zimbabwe. It has become a famous laboratory model for studying ageing.

First described by Rex A. Jubb in 1971. Named for Named after Richard E. Furzer, who collected it.

  • It has one of the shortest lifespans of any vertebrate kept in captivity.
  • Its eggs survive months buried in dry mud.
  • Young fish can mature in just a few weeks.

Sources

14 facts checked with sources