I learned a lesson about choosing a book by it's cover: no matter how pretty it is, find out what species you have for SURE before you buy it!
A while ago I wanted to add color and movement to an established 10gal tank occupied by a 1 Yoyo loach and 1 old platy so I went for a group of tetras and noticed a single silver and indigo iridescent fish in one of the tanks at the LFS. The guy who sold him to me had no idea exactly what species it was but called him "some kinda tetra" and threw him in with the others. Over a few weeks after adding the group I lost some of the tetras and this lone weirdo has grown- by body shape and swimming posture, I think that it is a danio of some sort, NOT a tetra. My best guess is she or he is a blue danio or color variation on a pearl danio: ~6cm long, nearly transparent silver body with a faint gray stripe down the dorsum, scissor shaped tail that's lighter at the tips and a dark rich iridescent purple/blue concentrated in the lower half of the body/base of the tail. Not possible to snap a picture since it swims so fast! No detectable line or pink tinges on the side, so I'm debating between calling it a Brachydanio albolineatus or a Brachydanio kerri but it doesn't matter except that I want to try and find it another home now. Without another to compare it to, I can't tell if it's male or female.
I successfully added 2 tiny baby honey dwarf gouramis and a small blue dwarf gourami intending to switch to gouramis in the 10gal tank and put the remaining 2 tetras in a little 2gal tank until I can return them for store credit. I changed my mind about putting schooling fish in the 10gal tank- it's too small. My choice is between returning the lone danio or I could hang onto him/her until I have a chance to establish a larger schooling tank.
This fish was trying to school with the tetras, it harrassed them to pieces but seemed happier when there were a handful of tetras in the tank. I'm sure it needs schooling companions to thrive happily. Now it hides or circles frantically but it's healthy & doesn't mess with the gouramis- and I like the coloration enough NOT to return it just yet. I do want to find it someplace else to live. I'm not even sure what danios I could buy to put it with since I haven't seen anything other than leopard or zebra danios at other LFS. It will be a while since I need to set up another larger tank and that is a long term project, not gonna happen in the next month or two.
I think a nice 20-30gal planted tank with a small school of danios, some glowlight tetras and one flashy betta would be pretty (& of course some scavengers/algae cleaners like a couple oto) so that's my dream for the future. I hope this weirdo lone danio makes it until that can happen and even then there's no guarantee I'll find him or her a suitable school. Just wish I could show you the coloration- very pretty!
Wondering who that is in my tank...
A while ago I wanted to add color and movement to an established 10gal tank occupied by a 1 Yoyo loach and 1 old platy so I went for a group of tetras and noticed a single silver and indigo iridescent fish in one of the tanks at the LFS. The guy who sold him to me had no idea exactly what species it was but called him "some kinda tetra" and threw him in with the others. Over a few weeks after adding the group I lost some of the tetras and this lone weirdo has grown- by body shape and swimming posture, I think that it is a danio of some sort, NOT a tetra. My best guess is she or he is a blue danio or color variation on a pearl danio: ~6cm long, nearly transparent silver body with a faint gray stripe down the dorsum, scissor shaped tail that's lighter at the tips and a dark rich iridescent purple/blue concentrated in the lower half of the body/base of the tail. Not possible to snap a picture since it swims so fast! No detectable line or pink tinges on the side, so I'm debating between calling it a Brachydanio albolineatus or a Brachydanio kerri but it doesn't matter except that I want to try and find it another home now. Without another to compare it to, I can't tell if it's male or female.
I successfully added 2 tiny baby honey dwarf gouramis and a small blue dwarf gourami intending to switch to gouramis in the 10gal tank and put the remaining 2 tetras in a little 2gal tank until I can return them for store credit. I changed my mind about putting schooling fish in the 10gal tank- it's too small. My choice is between returning the lone danio or I could hang onto him/her until I have a chance to establish a larger schooling tank.
This fish was trying to school with the tetras, it harrassed them to pieces but seemed happier when there were a handful of tetras in the tank. I'm sure it needs schooling companions to thrive happily. Now it hides or circles frantically but it's healthy & doesn't mess with the gouramis- and I like the coloration enough NOT to return it just yet. I do want to find it someplace else to live. I'm not even sure what danios I could buy to put it with since I haven't seen anything other than leopard or zebra danios at other LFS. It will be a while since I need to set up another larger tank and that is a long term project, not gonna happen in the next month or two.
I think a nice 20-30gal planted tank with a small school of danios, some glowlight tetras and one flashy betta would be pretty (& of course some scavengers/algae cleaners like a couple oto) so that's my dream for the future. I hope this weirdo lone danio makes it until that can happen and even then there's no guarantee I'll find him or her a suitable school. Just wish I could show you the coloration- very pretty!
Wondering who that is in my tank...
