This attractive species is also recognized as the blue chromide. The male has a general body colour of dark slatey-blue which changes to blue-green on the fins. The body and fins are speckled with pearly-white spots.
Females are ochre or yellow-green, marked irregularly with brownish stripes comparable to the graining on marble. The margins of the males anal, caudal and dorsal fins are dark. Both sexes have a dark stripe via the eye.
Under natural conditions these fish breed in ditches and puddles during the rainy season. The male makes a little depression in the mud, and into the depression the female deposits a single egg which is instantly fertilised and covered by the male. This performance is then repeated. When the pools dry out, the parents perish, but the eggs are protected by the damp mud and remain dormant until the next rains come. The eggs then hatch out and also the cycle is continued.
Breeding in an aquarium requires a temperature of 72°F and slightly brackish water (one tea-spoonful of sea-salt per gallon should be added to the aquarium).
After spawning, remove the adults and drain the aquarium gradually over a period frequently days. Leave the sand moist and also the tank empty for about 3 weeks. Then refill over a period of 3 to four days with clean rain water. The young should hatch in about two days. Feed with brine shrimps or sifted daphnia.
Rearing the fry isn’t especially challenging; supplied they’re well fed with live food they’ll reach adult size within eight weeks.