Inhabits ephemeral, water-filled depressions, pools and swamps mostly located in lowland floodplains. Water levels in these seasonally-variable habitats typically decrease during the dry season and eventually become completely dessicated for several months each year.

Near Bagamoyo it’s been collected from pools of a flat, grassy floodplain alongside the congeners N. annectens, N. janpapi and N. melanospilus, while at Soga it occus together with N. janpapi and N. ocellatus. Most habitats appear to be heavily overgrown with terrestrial vegetation.