The annual fish of East Africa are amongst the most spectacular of all freshwater fish. Their colouration is intense, usually reds, yellows, oranges, and blues. As annual fish they only live for one season in the wild; likewise in the aquarium they rarely outlive one year. Most belong to the genus Nothobranchius, and hail from the East of the continent, primarily Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Mozambique, but also Zimbabwe, Namibia, Chad, Somalia, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
click images for more details of each killifish species
African annual fish live in temporary waters, created by seasonal rainfall, in depressions in the landscape. Sometimes these can be very small indeed barely inches of water - yet the fish survive. These waters can dry up very quickly, so it is essential that the fish can reach a reproductive age before this happens. Eggs are laid in the muddy substrate where they will survive once the water has dried up, until the next rains come. Some areas of Africa have irregular rainfall patterns and in certain conditions the eggs may survive for years, ensuring a hatch of fry whenever the rains come. The most widely kept annual killifish come from the genus Nothobranchius, which hail from east, southern and central Africa. Other genera include Fundulosoma, and Callopanchax from central to western Africa.
The primary difference between African and South American annual fish, other than the obvious geographic ranges is that South American species live in temporary pools created by the massive annual flooding of the regions rivers.
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