Scarlet "Badis" Dario dario Fish - Question

[Brian_Nano12g]

I just recently stumbled upon a really cool looking fish. To me it looks like a tiny cichlid but I know it's not.

Anybody have any experience with Scarlet "Badis" Dario dario fish?

Would something this small, work in a JBJ Picotope tank? Are these fish hard to get (how common are they)? Any other details or personal experience with these fish would be nice.

 

[lake_tuna]

I just recently stumbled upon a really cool looking fish. To me it looks like a tiny cichlid but I know it's not.

Anybody have any experience with Scarlet "Badis" Dario dario fish?

Would something this small, work in a JBJ Picotope tank? Are these fish hard to get (how common are they)? Any other details or personal experience with these fish would be nice.

I have a male-female pair of these. They are not very common at the LFS'; luckly, my LFS sells these. I have come across many threads about people wanting to buy them from someone else on the forum because they couldn't get it locally. Mines are smaller than an inch, and they seem to be more intelligent than other small tropical fish. They behave like dwarf puffers and eat like them as well. They will only eat live food. I tried frozen tubifex worms a couple of time, but they were not interested. I did read one or two articles claiming that these fish can be conditioned to eat flakes, but I don't trust it without someone's actual account. However, they instantly know when you give them live worms; they first lock on it and gobble it up quickly. I'm currently culturing grindal worms, so I haven't been able to feed them live food very often, but they were in my tank without being fed for 2 weeks without any problem. Because I always see them poke around the substrate, I assume that they eat small creature that inhabit in my 10g fish tank; smaller tank will work, too. If you don't have an established tank, it will lack tiny creatures for the darios, and they will probably starve. Once I get my microworm and grindal worm cultures up and running steadily, I plan on buying more because they are very neat. I keep them with ember tetras and celestial danios, and they are the perfect match size-wise and temperament-wise.

One of my darios (very small fish!):

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Really nice picture, those Dario fish are really neat. Also, thank you for being so informative on their behavior and temperament. I didn't know that they were so finicky with their food... that can be quite tricky and problematic for me if I'm too lazy to get live food for them...LOL Luckily, my favorite LFS here in Santa Monica confirmed to me that they get these little guys in occasionally. However, when I went there last they didn't have any in stock so I was unable to see them for myself

I'll wait till I get my tank up and fully established before I consider any new fish. But these little guys are definitely on my interest list.... thanks for sharing!

 

[lake_tuna]

... thank you for being so informative on their behavior and temperament. I didn't know that they were so finicky with their food... that can be quite tricky and problematic for me if I'm too lazy to get live food for them...LOL Luckily, my favorite LFS here in Santa Monica confirmed to me that they get these little guys in occasionally. However, when I went there last they didn't have any in stock so I was unable to see them for myself
...

I tried to answer all of your questions in the OP. I hate it when I post a couple of questions in one post, and people just write whatever they thought I was asking without actually reading the OP, lol. I also didn't know they were so picky eaters. I figured that they'd just eat flake food eventually if they're hungry, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I just hope they're not starving and barely surviving! They were pretty scared when I first put them in my fish tank, but they don't mind me much anymore. When I put my hands in, they don't jet away. Now, I can approach and put a live grindal worm in front of them, and they look at it for a second or two as a dwarf puffer looks at a snail (check YouTube) and sucks it in. I can't wait to have a ton of worms to feed them and the rest of my little fish.

There's a store in San Diego called Aquatic Warehouse that sells these if you're ever down here. I would call and make sure they have them, though, because they don't always have them in stock. They are 6 dollars each. Make sure to ask them if they have a good batch because sometimes some of its fish and shrimp are real sickly.

 

[mgamer20o0]

they really do best with live foods. you can get some daphnia going or many other live foods you can do at home. there all kinds of dario fish out there more being found all the time.

 

[logansmomma1228]

Rarity of these?

I'm not sure exactly how old this post is, but I am contemplating getting 4 Scarlet Badis for my 10G tank. I am starting to find, however, that most LFS' don't carry them. The couple I have called said they weren't sure if they could get them or not. Are these really that hard to find? I really don't want to order off of the internet because I would like to pick them personally, and I can't really afford a shipping cost of 30$+. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[lake_tuna]

I'm not sure exactly how old this post is, but I am contemplating getting 4 Scarlet Badis for my 10G tank. I am starting to find, however, that most LFS' don't carry them. The couple I have called said they weren't sure if they could get them or not. Are these really that hard to find? I really don't want to order off of the internet because I would like to pick them personally, and I can't really afford a shipping cost of 30$+. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks

I've read that most LFS's don't carry these. It's either an LFS or the Internet. The latter cost way too much, though, since you need express shipping. The other option is this person from Aquria Central who sells dario darios for only a few bucks each, so you might wanna try her. She goes through different stocks, so I don't know if she has these now, but give it a try. Her fish seem to be in very good conditions.