Scarlet Badis?

P

Phialophora

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Feb 6, 2008
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Hello!

I'm picking up some scarlet badis (Dario dario or Badis bengalensis I think) for my 20g tomorrow.

I'm going to buy 6, as I heard they are territorial and should have 3g per individual. Aside from feeding them frozen/live foods, I can't seem to find much on them.

Does anyone have experience with these guys? I'm going to plant the 20g a little heavier, which should benefit them. They are beautiful looking fish, and I'm excited to get them!

They don't change colours do they? I recall reading about a 'chameleon fish', which was part of the same genus...

Thanks!
 
I agree that 6 might be a little tight but if there's lots of hiding places it should be okay. Are you getting 6 males (the red ones- females are brown)? You might have more issues with a bunch of males than mixed.

I love these little guys but I didn't have good luck with them. I think it was my source.

If I remember right, chameleon fish are badis badis, which are related but not the same. They're bigger and do change colors. Scarlet badis should be bright red/turquoise or brown.

You didn't mention tankmates but they get along with most other fish that aren't big enough to eat/bully them.
 
It is a 20g long.

I ended up buying 6 of the Badis... the tank is rather heavily planted with a few pieces of driftwood and PVC joints that offer a lot of cover. I'm not sure the sex of the fish, but there is at least one female... they are all hiding right now!

In fact, there is so much cover I have to search for my fish!

The tanks has:
- 6 Scarlet Badis
- 5 Clown Killies
- 10 Pygmy corydoras
- 2 Bamboo and 5 Amora shrimp

I would really like to add a schooling fish so I can have some action in the tank, as well as having my small elusive fish/shrimp. The fish I have now max out at 1-1.5 inches, so there is very little on the bioload. I am filtering it with an AC 110 and some small filter (I forget the name).

Do you think I could add a small school of either Harlequin Rasboras, Lemon Tetras, or Pencilfish? If so, what would the max. number be? I'd like at least 6 if that is possible.

I keep up with water changes, in fact I'd do one everyday if it would help - I love them :D My experience lies in fancy goldfish, so I am very much a beginner with tropical fish, and stocking is hard for me. I'm used to one fat goldfish every 10-20 gallons :D

Thanks!
 
I'm now jealous :P I'd love some clown killies and scarlet badis!

I'm not good at stocking, but I think another school would probably be pushing it.
 
Not sure about putting any more fish in there.......but if you do, I wouldn't go with pencilfish. I find them to be a little frisky. I've had the coral and the golden perncils. I've seen them chase each other and whatever fish I've had in the tank with them. I'm thinking that they need a pretty big tank perhaps. So if you do go with more my suggestion is the beaufitul celestial pearl danio! I just got a couple of badis yesterday. I put them in a 7g with my betta and many, many, many shrimp, lol. They seem to be doing pretty well. I tried to feed them some tetra micro-crabs(cyclopeeze) but they didn't seem too interested. I'm gonna try to buy some frozen cyclopeeze and give that a shot. Thats what they were feeding them at the store. The store I bought them at they were in a tank with the celestials, pygmy cories and ember tetras. I've also heard that licorice gouramies are good tankmates.
 
I have 4 scarlets in my 20G tank. I believe 3 males and 1 female. I too, have read that they are territorial, however, my 3 males often swim together and the lone female is just swimming by herself. I don't think getting 6 will make the tank too tight. They're really small and social (or at least that's what I'm seeing in my tank!)
I also have 5 Pygmy Cories, 6 Cherry Shrimps and 3 ghost shrimps with them in my 20G.

The Scarlet Badis (Dario Dario is actually the new name I believe) are adorable. I've only seen their color change when they were moved from my 10G to my 20G. They simply lost their red bands and had their beautiful color just kind of fade... It's nothing really spectacular.
I only have 4 in my tank right now and it looks so empty! I want to get more, but I'm holding back to save room for endler's.
Good luck with yours! They're really great.
 
Thanks for all the replies!

I really like the scarlet badis; haven't seen much in terms of behaviour, but I've been pretty busy and haven't been able to stare at them much.

They are truly beautiful fish; I still think they look like tiny cichlids :) Combined with the Clown Killies (awesome blue eyes on those things) and the pygmy cories, the tank is actually pretty interesting. It isn't like my goldfish tanks at all, where you always see the fish... the tank is like a hidden ecosystem.

I haven't seen my badis eat yet; I tried grating mysis shrimp today, which made real small pieces, but didn't see if they got any. I'm going to talk to the guy I bought them from and ask what he fed at the store.

Those celestial pearl danios are awesome! I googled them and have never seen them before, didn't know danios could look like that. I am going to just let my tank settle down, and definitely look for these guys in the future if I add any fish.
 
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