gheitman
Aquarium Advice Addict
My LFS just got in a batch of scarlet badis (scientific name Dario dario - formerly Badis bengalensis). I had never seen any before but after checking up on them here and elsewhere on the web I decided to give them a try and bought four yesterday.
They are very small with the males achieving a total length of just over an inch while the females are less than an inch. The males get distinctive red stripes down their body (hence the popular name) while the much rarer in the trade females are dull and gray. They are finicky eaters with a reputation of starving themselves because they only eat live foods (with some also eating frozen foods) so I bought some live blackworms to feed them. They are also reportedly very skittish but I have them in a planted 10 gallon tank with 4 dwarf cories, 2 otos and 1 bandit cory fry as company and they are swimming all over the tank. According to what I've read the optimum conditions for them are a pH of 7 to 7.2, temperature of 76 degrees (F) and a water hardness of 7 (dH).
I have 1 fish that is definitely a female and 1 that is definitely a male. I believe the other 2 are also males because they have extremely faint red stripes. The LFS had no other females that I could see.
They are very small with the males achieving a total length of just over an inch while the females are less than an inch. The males get distinctive red stripes down their body (hence the popular name) while the much rarer in the trade females are dull and gray. They are finicky eaters with a reputation of starving themselves because they only eat live foods (with some also eating frozen foods) so I bought some live blackworms to feed them. They are also reportedly very skittish but I have them in a planted 10 gallon tank with 4 dwarf cories, 2 otos and 1 bandit cory fry as company and they are swimming all over the tank. According to what I've read the optimum conditions for them are a pH of 7 to 7.2, temperature of 76 degrees (F) and a water hardness of 7 (dH).
I have 1 fish that is definitely a female and 1 that is definitely a male. I believe the other 2 are also males because they have extremely faint red stripes. The LFS had no other females that I could see.