Breeding Maratecoara is for specialists and having patience is a must. In contrary to many other annual fishes Maratecoara, while reproducing, drop their eggs in small groups above the bottom that best is built up out of a layer of soft peatmoss or coco peat. They share that behaviour with related genera like there are Papliolebias, Plesiolebias and Pituna. Breeding tank must have a dark bottom and not too much light from above because Maratecoara are forest dwellers were light will not get under the canopy easily. There they live in swamps and small lakes. Because of urbanisation in their original area you may find them also in secundary forest or even deforestated savannah areas. You may breed them in small tanks of 10 to 20 liter and add a small sponge filter to it. Maratecoara do not like strong currents. Best is to use one male with more than one female as males can insist to much and get agressive to a female. You may also keep several pairs together but then a bigger tank is needed. It may be preferable to place peat in a bowl or other container within the aquarium to prevent its pollution by uneaten food. During breeding - but also normally - feed the fishes with life food only.

Eggs are small (about 1.5 mm.) and and after a two week period the eggs can be collected with the peat then rinsed and dried till it is damp. After that it should be stored for several months depending on the storage temperature. Temperatures as high as 30-33 Celsius can result in shorter developing time. Normal storage temperatures are 24-28 C. and you should start checking the status of the eggs for eyed up regularly after a period of at least 3-5 months depending on temperature. If eggs get into the eyed up stage you best select some of these eggs and test them in water of about 18 Celsius. If fry swims within 24 hours normally you can water the rest of the peat. Store the peat after poring off the fry again for a month and re-wet the peat to see if more /remaining eggs are then ready to hatch. Fry are small too but are able to eat freshly hatched Artemia nauplii from day one .... but feeding them with paramecium is always a good thing the first week to. Males can display their gill rakers by widening their gill covers. This is used to impress the females before courtship and is used when males fight or defend their territorium. This is a very nice feature of all Maratecoara fishes.

Photo: Close-up from an Maratecoara egg, ready to hatch (eyed-up), photographed by Jan Wirén, Sweden.

Nielsen D.T.B. , M. Martins & R. Britzke 2014. Description of a new species of annual fish, Maratecoara gesmonei (Cyprinodontiformes: Rivulidae) from the rio Xingu system, Amazon basin, Brazil. AQUA - International Journal of Ichthyology - Volume 20, Issue 2 - 15 April 2014, pp. 87-96