Taxonomy & naming
Herder, Hadiaty and Nolte described the species in 2012 from a stream near the village of Tilanga, south of Rantepao, in the Salo Sadang drainage. The species name honours H.-G. Evers, a German aquarist who collected and promoted Sulawesi fishes.
Morphology
A small ricefish; FishBase gives a maximum of 1.5 in SL.
Habitat
Small streams in the Salo Sadang drainage of the Toraja area, South Sulawesi. FishBase describes the type locality as a karst pond about 98–131 ft long and up to 13 ft deep, with calm, crystal-clear water, a single inflow and outflow and rain forest around it; local people use it as a swimming pool. FishBase gives a temperature of at least 22 C.
Feeding
Takes small invertebrates and algae.
Mating
Courtship has not been described in detail.
Breeding
FishBase calls it a pelvic-brooder: the female carries a cluster of eggs in a concavity on the belly until they hatch. Clutch size and incubation time have not been published.
In the aquarium
Occasionally kept in small numbers. A planted tank with a lid and small live foods would suit it, with water that is not strongly acidic.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List classes Oryzias eversi as Near Threatened, meaning it is close to qualifying for a threatened category. A small-stream endemic in a farmed upland is exposed to habitat change.