Danio ID

[buggeek]

I just recently purchased 3 danios that I can find no info on. They were called whiskered danios. They look a lot like giant danio's except that they have fu man chu looking whiskers. Searching for whiskered danios brings up nothing and I was wondering if anyone has a clue as to their real name or scientific name. Thanks!

[Dahlia]

Any chance you could post a picture? Sounds cool!

[buggeek]

Maybe tonight I can try and get a picture of them. I got them at petsmart yesterday. They were supposed to be $7.99 a piece but they were mistakenly put in the Giant Danio tank so I got them for $1.99 a piece. The employee also called them chain linked danio, but that also brings up nothing in searches.

[Dahlia]

It's too bad scientific names aren't easy for the layman to remember or we'd be using those instead.

I highly approve of being a bug geek. Are you a professional one or as a hobby? :)

[buggeek]

I guess I could say professional, that was what I was hired for. I specialize in Aquatic Insects and am part of a crew that does bioassessments of streams in Fairfax County, VA.

[Dahlia]

Ooh... any water beetles involved in that? I obtained a water beetle from PetSmart's feeder goldfish tank around the end of August/first of September and it has been an interesting pet. I keep it in a 20 gallon with feeder guppies that were intended to be snacks, but it seems to prefer fish food, pellets, and frozen bloodworms. I had some guppies die right after I had bought them, but since then none of them have. I'm not sure if the beetle did it or if it was just weak feeder guppies. I now have a lot of guppies.

Here is a thread with a picture that looks like the beetle I have (http://boards.aaquaria.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1883)

If you are familiar with them do you know how long they live? I am surprised how long mine has stuck around.

I am also a bug geek, I teach entomology (not professionally) for the Master Gardening course where I live.

Anyway, back to your danio identification...

[OrionGirl]

I couldn't find much, but you may want to look up Queen danios and bengal danios. They are similarly sized to giants, but a different color pattern. Since all danios have whiskers, it's not really agood defining trait that these are more pronounced than normal.

[buggeek]

These whiskers are HUGE! These danios look a lot like catfish whiskers. I have 2 giant danios that are both at least 4" long and I have never noticed any whiskers (maybe I should look closer eh?). These other danios are about 2" long and the whiskers are huge. I will look at the ones you mentioned though.

[sumoschro]

yeah pretty much all cyprinids have whiskers i think, just some arent very noticeable

[buggeek]

Here is a better description:

Their whiskers reach beyong the gills. There is a black spot behind the gill covers and a double "chain" pattern down the side. It looks like two rows of chain link. I looked through Dr. Axelrod's atlas to no avail. I came across three common names at the pet stores, whiskered danio, chain link danio and moustached danio.

[OrionGirl]

Danio dangila: http://www.jjphoto.dk/fish_archive/aquarium/danio_dangila.htm

[Captain Hook]

Never seen or even heard of these danios before. Nice find! I really like danios and have kept leopards and zebras.

[Dahlia]

I just looked for somewhere to buy that fish and turned up nothing. Lucky you!

[buggeek]

BINGO!! Thanks OrionGirl! Maybe I should go back to petsmart to see if they put them in the wrong tank again :D