# Scarlet Badis



## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

Anyone know about this fish? Care to share their needs and behaviors?
My LFS has a few frys and they looked very colorful.
I love to introduce them into my tetra and dwarf corys community tank but don't know anything about them. I hate to get something cute and small and later see it grow to 16 inches with big sharp teeth. I have enough of those killers already. LOL

Thanks


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

I've seen these little fellows, but I haven't kept them. Some places only sell the males. Here's some links that may help:
http://www.aquariumfish.com/aquariumfish/detail.aspx?aid=18924&cid=4150&search=
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Dario_dario.php


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## Chuppy (Aug 5, 2007)

Been keeping them for a month now and they are still good... the thing is... they need bottom-dwelling fish fish-food and they shouldn't be kept with aggressive bottom feeders or those bigger than them...(loaches) overall they're quite easy to keep except when competing to feed lol!

Drew


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## gheitman (Aug 18, 2007)

I've had some scarlet badis (aka Dario dario) for a few weeks now. I keep them in a 10 gallon moderately planted tank with a few dwarf cories and a pair of otos. They don't get very big (not much over an inch as an adult) and I've read that males can become aggressive towards each other although I haven't seen that yet. Females are almost never available for sale in the trade and have a much duller appearance than the males (no red vertical stripes). The species is reportedly very finicky eaters and have been known at times to starve to death rather than eat anything but live foods. I'm feeding them live blackworms as well as some finely ground up New Life Spectrum flakes and frozen daphnia although I haven't seen them eat any of the latter two yet. They prefer a pH of 7-7.2 and a temperature of 76 F and a hardness of 7 dH.


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## Chuppy (Aug 5, 2007)

well ...
I'm glad to know that too lol! 
If that's the case.. im not so sure how my 10 badis(s) survived.... hmmm

My 2 cents
Drew


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## IndianaSam (Mar 25, 2005)

I kept them about a year ago. I started with 2 males and 2 females in a 40 breeder with some cherry shrimp. The tank was heavily planted.

I fed them bbs, grindal worms, microworms and blackworms. Within 6 months or so I had over 50 of them in that tank.

I never was able to get them to eat flake food.

Sam


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## Round Head (Feb 28, 2006)

Thanks for the information. I don't think they will do well in my tank. But then I do see a few water fleas in there which may support a natural diet for a pair or so.

IndianaSam, do you have some to let go?


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## gheitman (Aug 18, 2007)

Chuppy said:


> well ...
> I'm glad to know that too lol!
> If that's the case.. im not so sure how my 10 badis(s) survived.... hmmm
> 
> ...


What size tank do you have them in and what do you feed them? I'd be interested in any tips that help them thrive.


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## gheitman (Aug 18, 2007)

IndianaSam said:


> I kept them about a year ago. I started with 2 males and 2 females in a 40 breeder with some cherry shrimp. The tank was heavily planted.
> 
> I fed them bbs, grindal worms, microworms and blackworms. Within 6 months or so I had over 50 of them in that tank.
> 
> ...


Did you try and succeed in getting them to eat any frozen foods?


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## Chuppy (Aug 5, 2007)

i didn't really specifically feed them with any food or some sort.. mayb there are living things there in my tank(20gal.) FYI. my tank is heavily planted with stemmies and moss... so once again it might be a factor to their survival.


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## IndianaSam (Mar 25, 2005)

Round Head said:


> IndianaSam, do you have some to let go?


Sorry, they're all gone. I bred them, turned some fry in for points at my local aquarium club and then gave away the rest a couple months ago.

Mark at http://www.anubiasdesign.com gets them in on a regular basis. You also might want to try the Yahoo badis and dario email group. Although, it's been dead for a while.

Sam


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## IndianaSam (Mar 25, 2005)

gheitman said:


> Did you try and succeed in getting them to eat any frozen foods?


No, but I never tried. I raise live food for my Apisto fry so I just used that.

BBS, grindal worms and microworms are all dead easy to culture (or hatch in the case of BBS). So I never had any issues feeding the Dario darios. Plus they were in a tank with about 1000 cherry shrimp so they had plenty of baby shrimp to eat too.

Sam


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