Family: Cyprinidae

In nature: Thailand, Eastern Sumatra, Malaysia, Indonesia. Rasboras inhabit clear, acidic, tropical forest streams. They are endangered in the natural environment. Harlequin Rasbora was discovered in 1902 by a german ichthyologist in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. 

Social: timid, peaceful, lively, schooling fish, the more individuals the better. Pretty hardy, they are good fish for the beginners. They are peaceful toward other fish.

Swimming in the aquarium: they need open space for swimming and schooling behavior. They swim to the surface and in the midwater areas of the aquarium.

Feeding: They accept a variety of foods, flakes and frozen foods are fine but as usual, some live food treat will make them very happy.

Water temperature: 73 to 82 F (22 to 25 C)

Water pH: their natural environment has soft, slightly acidic water; optimal pH is 6.0-7.5.

Water hardness: 1-3 dH

Description: Rasboras are often used in aquascaping, to populate big planted tanks, since their schooling behavior and elegance complement such tanks very nicely. Unlike other Rasbora species, Harlequin Rasbora is stocky and has a convex belly. Males are slim compared to the females. They are pretty small as adults, about one and three quarter inches (4,5 cm).

Photo by

Their coppery-silver color look magnificent in the light. You can easily notice a triangular black spot that begins wide in the center of the body and becomes narrower as it extends to the caudal fin. The lower front of the triangle is often indistinct in females, while in the males it is sharp and extends down to the belly. The dorsal fin has a yellow tip. The upper and lower tips of the caudal fin are red.

Behavior: The larger is the tank, the better – in small tanks or in community aquariums with many other fish, they usually do not display schooling behavior. In my opinion, the schooling behavior is one of the most fascinating aspects of these fish and should be stimulated as much as possible. Adding 1-2 large (but peaceful) fish will trigger the schooling behavior or intensify it, since rasboras consider those big fish predators, and it is a known fact that schooling is the natural strategy for survival in small prey.

See what I mean? My rasboras stay together because of the BIG angel fish that they consider a predator :).
I love to see them following each other as a team.

Rasbora as schooling fish

Breeding
You should have females 15-30 months old because older females usually do not produce eggs. The water must have a pH of 5.3-5.7 and the temperature must range from 79 to 82°F (26 to 28°C). Cryptocoryne is the best plant you can use in the spawning tank. The water level should be lowered. Spawning can start during sunrise and takes about three hours. The female lays about 200 eggs which are usually placed under the plant leaves. Remove the parents immediately after spawning to save the eggs.

To avoid fungus, use some materials to darken the aquarium. The eggs hatch in about 24 hours and swim after 3 days. Start feeding infusoria and egg yolk. When the fry are 3-4 days old, you can feed them with artemia nauplii. The fry are very sensitive and you must change very small volumes of water during the week. The fry grow pretty fast.

Guppies are are some of the smallest aquarium tropical fish and one of the most interesting because of the infinite variety of colors and fin shapes it can display.

The guppies are livebearers. They born tiny fries and don’t lay eggs like most of the other fish species. The tiny fries look like the parents since their first day of life (body shape) but get colors later in life (in about 6 weeks). A mature guppy won’t grow larger than 3-5 centimeters. The female is slightly larger than the male, and she doesn’t have very impressing colors. The males are the main attraction in this species, and the guppy enthusiasts obtained hundreds of combinations of colors, patterns and fin shapes through selective breeding.

The females produce about 50-100 fries once a month. The guppies are hardy fish and breed like crazy. This is why many tropical fish lovers started this hobby with guppies and the guppy got his name as the “million fish” or the “beginner’s fish”. The guppy community is very large and there are Guppy shows and competitions on a regular basis, where you can see some wonderful guppies that you’ll fall in love with.

There are always new varieties that appear – think about it: wouldn’t it be cool if you would create your own guppy color? Start guppy breeding today!

The name “tiger barb” comes from its 4 tiger-like black vertical stripes on a white-yellow body. The fins of the mature males have red edges and so does the nose. Above the black part of the dorsal fin males have a red line while the dorsal fin of the female is black. Mature females have a bigger belly, and are larger than the males which have a deeper red on their fins and a better contrast of colors.

Behavior

These fish are pretty nervous and aggressive. Since they are schooling fish, it is recommended to keep groups of more than 6 tiger barbs because if you only have a few, they will start nipping the fins of other fish and stress them a lot by following them allover the tank. If there are many barbs, they will usually play on their own, leaving the other species alone. Here’s a pic from one of my tanks, featuring a horde of tiger barbs being friendly with angel fish:

Tiger barbs prefer slightly acidic water but will adapt to a wide range of water parameters. It is important to have a tank with big plants and even ornaments like rocks or wooden roots that create several dark hidden areas, because tiger barbs love to hide and rest after they eat a heavy meal. It’s funny that they often rest in a vertical position, with their tails up and heads down, like aquatic bats! :)

Good mates for these aggressive fish are the Rosy Barbs (Puntius Conchonius).

Varieties

- Green tiger barbs (Moss barb) only have a vertical black stripe on the eye, with the full body being a wonderful green-blue color
- Golden tiger barbs are yellow with 2 white vertical stripes
- Albino tiger barbs are almost totally white

I just love green tiger barbs, they look great in a tank. I don’t know why but friends and family see them blue. Geez, I see them 100% green. Please don’t tell me you see them blue too. Here are two of my GREEN! tiger barbs sharing their secrets… well, they are more green than “tiger” anyway.

Feeding

They are little eating machines, accepting almost any kind of fish food, and they are enter a general frenzy mode at the feeding time, competing for food with fast movements, trying to eat as much as possible before the competition. It is a great show to feed a tank with 20-30 hungry tiger barbs.

Breeding

Before breeding, it is good to feed them live or at least frozen quality food since this will prepare the females to spawn, and you’ll notice their bellies getting bigger. Below are 2 of my mature tiger barb females; notice their rounded big bellies! I can imagine the ton of eggs they have in there. :)

They are oviparous and will eat their eggs or fry if they aren’t taken away after spawning. A grid is required at the bottom of the tank so that the eggs fall below it and escape the parents. Usually more males follow a female. You can select a female with a well rounded belly that males chase and move her to the breeding tank with the mot beautiful and active male. The breeding tank should have acidic water.

Spawning often takes place in the morning. During spawning males will develop a very red nose! (really) LOL To speed up spawning, you can do a partial water change and heat the water a bit more.

The female lays about 200 eggs which the male will fertilize. Remove the parents right after that. The eggs will hatch in about 36 hours, and the fry will swim in 5 days. Fries usually don’t accept dry food from the beginning so you’ll have to prepare baby brine shrimps for their first days of life. Then, they will eat fine powder dry food. The tiger barb is sexual mature at a body length of 3 centimeters (1.2 inches), at approximately seven weeks of age.

Zebras are very active fish, and easily recognized by their 5 horizontal stripes that resemble pijamas :). They have blue horizontal stripes from gills to tail, over the silver base color of the body (males have gold instead of silver). They have two pairs of barbels. Females are a bit larger than the males and more full-bodied when they are mature and carry eggs. Males are streamlined and slim. Here is a couple, the bigger female being followed by the slim male:

Behavior

Zebra Danio is a small fish, and because of its peaceful nature and hardiness, is recommended for beginners. They adapt to a wide range of water conditions. They need open swimming space, being sporty fish that you rarely see still! :) Fin nipping on other fish occurs when they feel lonely, so it’s a good idea to keep 6 or more zebras in the same tank.

Sometimes, zebra males will occasionally simulate fight, straightening their pectoral fins and staring at eachother! After a while they forget it and go on with their crazy racing in the tank. You will have a lot of fun with their playfulness. Don’t forget to cover your tank since zebras are known for their skills in jumping out of the tank for freedom.

Bleeding of the gills can happen if the fish are exposed to ammonia, which is why it might not be a good idea to use them as starter fish in the nitrogen cycle, or if you do, measure the water chemistry often and act to keep them safe.

It is worth knowing that zebra danio is often used in scientific research.

Varieties
Although I prefer the original natural “version” of the fish, there are several varieties created by selective breeding:
- leopard zebra (it has dots instead of stripes… kinda funny and nice variety actually)
- albino zebra
- veil tail zebra
- long fins zebra

Feeding
Zebras are omnivorous, and although like every fish they love live foods, they will accept dried/frozen food very well. Their mouth is directed upwards, so they prefer feeding from the top of the water. They will try to eat anything that fits into their mouth :).

Mouth directed upwards:

Breeding
Probably the easiest to breed from the oviparous category of tropical fish, zebras are very prolific. I was impressed to find out that zebras are loyal to their mate and they remain together for life, and rarely get another pair, even if one mate dies. I didn’t expect this from such a small crazy common fish :).

They eat their eggs so a grid is required at the bottom of the tank so that the eggs fall below it and escape the parents. Rising the regular temperature a bit will trigger spawning, it this should be done during dawn, because this is when they usually lay eggs. A female can produce up to 500 eggs. The parents must be removed after the eggs are fertilized, because they will also eat their young. After 2 days, you’ll notice the tiny fries. They need very finely crushed dry food and infusoria. Egg yolk might be added too, but in moderation since it spoils the water quality and cleaning the fry tank is very difficult, since they are extremely small and easily absorbed with the water.

Fun facts
Zebra’s face is always grumpy! Zebra fish looks like one of my grumpy friends. See?