Little Gems of Asia: Danios, the forgotten beauties

[kevkoi]

In line with our promise of delivering interesting fish species and educating the hobby, I am going to introduce some interesting danio species from Myanmar and India which we do not often see in the hobby in Australia.

There is more than just the Zebra Danio (Danio rerio) and Giant Danio (Devario devario). There are many other more spectacular danios that are very infrequently seen in Australia.

These 3 rarer danio species will be making an appearance at SLS this month.

Danio dangila (Mustached lace Danio)
Danio choprae (Glolight Danio)
Danio kyathit "Spotted" (Orange finned danio)

These active, tightly schooling fish make spectacular additions to any planted community tank.

A brief introduction about these fishes follow.

[kevkoi]

Common Name: Moustached lace danio
Scientific name: Danio dangila
Size: up to 15cm in the wild.
Origin: Myanmar, India, Bangladesh, Nepal.

Notes: This is one of the most spectacular of the "Giant" danio group. It's a stocky fish and needs plenty of swimming space. Despite it's rather large size, it is one of the most placid and easy to keep. It develops a very attractive patter of silvery-gold spots on the flanks and long barbels. This is actually a recommended tankmate for the shy discus.

[kevkoi]

Common name: Glowlight danio
Scientific name: Danio choprae
Size: 3cm
Origin: Irrawady Basin, Myanmar

Notes: This silvery danio has orange bars on the upper and lower lobes of its tail and a flourescent orange stripe along its back. It also sports a bright orange-pink stripe along the flanks, plus a number of small vertical bluish bars. It's a very pretty little fish and has only been available in the fish keeping hobby for a few years. This fish is most certainly a welcomed addition to any nano tank as they stay small.

[kevkoi]

Common name: Kyathit danio, Orange finned danio
Scientific name: Danio kyathit
Size: 4cm
Origin: Myitkina, Myanmar

Notes: This rare danio from Myitkina has only been known to science for a few years. There are 2 sports of the D.kyathit; the striped and the spotted, but both forms sport the orange fins. It usually has four or five rows of irregularly shaped spots running from the gill cover to the caudal peduncle, with two rows forming stripes that extend into the tail fin.

This is a trully stunning species that is easy to breed and which should be more often seen in shops. However, because they are relatively new, it's even been hard to find a good decent picture of D.kyathit "Spotted" on the internet! I was trully mesmerised the first time I saw these fish imported in from Myanmar at an exporter's facility.