They come from the island of Hispaniola, more specifically the country of Haiti. There are an amazing number of livebearers there, including quite a crowd of Limia. There is some danger to their survival because of poor agricultural practices in the highlands which pollute and silt the streams. Introduced cichlids do not help.

Limia need heat (78-80 F or a little more - increase feedings then) and some veggies in their diet. If kept cooler, they will not drop fry but will waste away. They are active and a delight to watch. While they are pretty tolerant of fry, up to a certain population density, make sure you have some growing up. Some will live two years, but I've noticed they often are fairly short-lived.

This species is also called the humpbacked Limia. As males get older, they become less streamlined and develop quite a hump on their back. Probably some sort of dominance thing.

Also, despite the fact that there are so many Limia on Hispaniola, they will hybridize (at least in the first few generations) with other Limia from that island and also from Jamaica and Cuba (most of the Greater Antilles.) Research with both cichlids and livebearers of the Poeciliid group suggest that they have affinities with cichlids and livebearers (livebearer to livebearer of course) and very probably killies (Rivulus) in Central America. This is another example of how continental drift may explain the distribution of fishes.

There is a group of smaller Caribbean islands to the east called the Lesser Antilles which progress north from South American. There is evidence for a different radiation of freshwater fishes from SA in that case.

Limia are great aquarium fish and they put up with quite a bit of neglect, but given space and/or water changes will do very well. I have had a female Limia melanogaster (black bellied Limia) in one of my infamous gallon jars of emerald green greenwater. (At least once a week, half of the greenwater is poured through a fine meshed net into a Daphnia culture and replaced with warm, treated, seasoned water.) She has thrived on a diet of over half veggie flakes, some regular flakes and the rare meaty item and is dropping fry every month. I'm separating them out but because the fish room temperatures are mid-70s, am getting only females. As the temperature rises (assuming she doesn't run out of batches) males should begin to appear.