This Rivulus berovidesi forms, with R. cylindraceus and R. roloffi the subgenus Rivulus within the genus Rivulus.

Rivulus berovidesi, a new killifish species, is described from a small stream in Sierra de Cajalbana, Pinar del Rio province northwestern Cuba. It is readily distinguished from Rivulus cylindraceus Poey by the combination of an exclusive color pattern and meristic characters such as a d-type frontal scalation pattern (versus e-type pattern in Rivulus cylindraceus). The current diagnosis of Rivulus berovidesi based on chromatic, morphological and meristic characters is consistent with a recent molecular analysis of this genus in Cuba.

Keeping and breeding is easy but a tight fitting cover on the aquarium is necessary because their ability to jump, even through the smallest opening, is unbelievable.

This species can, if there is enough space for them, be housed in a tank with more than one male and several females. If separated before and brought together again however, they can be very aggressive towards each other and fight to become the dominant fish. The best way to produce numbers of fry is to put a pair or a trio in a small tank of about 10 litres with a small filter in it or with some aeration. On the bottom of the tank place some peat moss or dark gravel and a floating "mop" to give space for laying their eggs. The fish will, if they are fed a rich variety of live food, spawn during their whole adult life and produce daily between 5 to 15 eggs.

The eggs should be collected by hand and stored for about 14 days in a small container. Eggs are 1.6 mm and amber coloured. It is wise to add an anti fungus to the water you store the eggs in, to prevent fungal attacks.

After hatching the young fry can eat fresh artemia nauplii without any problem. It takes 4 to 5 months to raise them to maturity. Often the males far out number females. For some species this can become a major problem for the breeder, as he has to raise many fry to enable distribution of a few pairs to other hobbyists. Recent personal tests found that lower pH levels during the time of hatching gave a higher percentage of females. To achieve this I used some peat moss that I added to the container with the eggs just before they were ready to hatch. This peat moss also is a good way to prevent eggs from being attacked by fungus.

Their lifespan can be up to 3 years in captivity.

Remarks :

Max. size 37.9 mm.
Dorsal holotype 7, (paratypes 6-9)
Anal holotype 10 , (paratypes 8-11)
D/A 7.1,
LL scale count 34-37
Pre- dorsal length to % SL – 68 % Predorsal scales 23
Depth to % SL – 00.0 %

Rodriguez-Silva R. 2015. Rivulus berovidesi, a new killifish species (Teleostei: Rivulidae) from western Cuba. Zootaxa, 3949 (2): 289 - 296, figs.

Ponce de León J.L. , Gunnary L. , Rodríguez R., Metcalfe C.J., Hernández D., Casane D., García-Machado E., 2014. Phylogeography of Cuban Rivulus: Evidence for allopatric speciation and secondary dispersal across a marine barrier.  Molecular Phylogenetics and evulution 79 (2014) 404-414