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Photo thanks to Dave Wilson, Aquagreen
Blueback Blue-eye or neon Blue-eye
Pseudomugil cyanodorsalis
General information: This little fish lives in a very hostile environment. In the outer areas of mangroves in the tropical areas of NT, WA, Qld and PNG. It is subject to extremes of temperature and salinities. In the dry season the salt level can rise to much higher than seawater, up to 40 parts per thousand (PPT). In the wet season they are likely to live in pure fresh soft rain water for up to 4 months. Their diet in the real world is unknown but in thier habitat at the back of the mangroves near Buffalo Creek, NT there is green water full of micro crusrtaceans and small insects. Males and females are easily distinguished by the length of the fins in mature specimens the males have much longer fins. If you look at the third picture there is a mature female in the centre, all the other photos are males.
Cultivation notes: In captivity it is OK living in fresh water as long as it is not too acidic, it is best kept in slightly alkaline water, pH about 7.5 or higher. It can tolerate long term fresh water but if breeding is required a small amount of salt will bring on better results with egg production. A small amount of salt, 2 ppt will allow these fish to keep breeding with good results, if the water is fresh and soft, egg production will drop off to almost none. It will take prepared foods such as flake but it is best to provide a feed of small live foods once or twice a week.
Distribution: WA, Qld, NT and PNG.
Reference: Allen, Midgley and Allen, (2002)"Freshwater Fishes of Australia" , Allen (1995) "Rainbowfishes in Nature and in the Aquarium"
Article thanks to & with permission of Dave Wilson, Aquagreen
http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiv...mport-list.pdf
however, as Australian natives, they can legally be purchased from Australian stock.
The IUCN Red List reports Pseudomugil cyanodorsalis as a species which has not yet been assessed at 20/10/2013:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/search
It is very important not to release any aquarium specimens into our waterways. Any that are not sold or re-homed/ given away, can often be re-sold to aquarium stores. If they are homed in ponds, care should be taken that they cannot escape in run-off into our waterways. Even if fish are native & local they should not be moved from one waterway to another, as this can transfer disease. If they are not local fish, they can both spread disease and either out-compete or eat local fish, shrimp & plants, causing their demise.