RachelG
Aquarium Advice Activist
I bought a pair of scarlet badis yesterday and I love them! They were the first fish I wanted for my first tank, but I was never able to find them until now. I feel lucky! I currently have them in a 5.5 gallon with plenty of plants and a few cherry shrimp.
One is for sure a male, but the other, which the store owner insisted is a female, I am not sure about. "she" was pretty pale yesterday, but today she has bright red stripes on her sides. This makes me think she might actually be a younger male. (Pictures of both fish below)
If I do indeed have two males, are they going to become aggressive when the smaller one matures? If this is the case, I can take the smaller one back. I know that a seller on ebay sells single female badis if I need one, though they are a bit pricey...
My male badis seems to be very energetic, zipping around the front of the tank, waving his fins frantically as if he is excited to see what's in my room. The way he darts and stops with his fins flapping reminds me of a hummingbird. It's cute. Is this normal behavior or should I expect him to calm down after a while? The smaller "female" doesn't do this and is content to sniff around in the plants.
So far the female has eaten(a live bloodworm, which was the only live food available around here at the moment), but I haven't seen the male eat. I have frozen daphnia and brine shrimp to try to feed them, as well as mini nls pellets and flakes if they decide to take those.
One is for sure a male, but the other, which the store owner insisted is a female, I am not sure about. "she" was pretty pale yesterday, but today she has bright red stripes on her sides. This makes me think she might actually be a younger male. (Pictures of both fish below)
If I do indeed have two males, are they going to become aggressive when the smaller one matures? If this is the case, I can take the smaller one back. I know that a seller on ebay sells single female badis if I need one, though they are a bit pricey...
My male badis seems to be very energetic, zipping around the front of the tank, waving his fins frantically as if he is excited to see what's in my room. The way he darts and stops with his fins flapping reminds me of a hummingbird. It's cute. Is this normal behavior or should I expect him to calm down after a while? The smaller "female" doesn't do this and is content to sniff around in the plants.
So far the female has eaten(a live bloodworm, which was the only live food available around here at the moment), but I haven't seen the male eat. I have frozen daphnia and brine shrimp to try to feed them, as well as mini nls pellets and flakes if they decide to take those.