Galaxy Rasboras / Celestial Pearl Danio

 
                                     $2

Latin Name: Celestichthys margaritatus
Common Name: Galaxy Rasbora, Celestial Pearl Danio, Galaxy Danio
Origin: Inle Lake, Myanmar (Burma)
Size: 1 inch (2.5cm)
Suggested Minimum Tank Size: 2 gallon +
Preferred Temperature: 68-80°F (20-27°C)

 The Galaxy Rasbora is a tiny fish, it tops out at 1 inch (2.5cm) and is usually smaller than that! Galaxies are very shy fish. I added some Endlers Livebearers to their tank to make them feel more comfortable and this has worked wonderfully well. The Galaxies are now out and about in full view.


Background:
The Celestial Pearl Danio is still fairly new to the aquarium hobby. Being only discovered back in August 2006. It is thought that over collecting these fish nearly brought the fish to extinction in the wild although it has now been discovered that many populations of the species exist in very remote parts inaccessible to foreigners. When they first came into the aquarium trade they were in high demand, so the prices were very expensive though now they have slowly go down to around to an average of £3.00 ($6) per fish. Which is still quite costly for such a small fish.

General:
This fish has beautiful colours of a dark blue base colour covered in pearly spots along with bright red/orange fins. These amazing colours will show best against a planted aquarium with good lighting. They are very quick fish! Trying to get pictures of these fish is near enough impossible! They prefer to be kept in shoals of at least six fish to be generally happier and more active. They can be kept in small tanks, as they will not grow over 1inch long. But should not be kept in tanks less than 5 gallons. Celestial Pearl Danios have small stomachs so be careful not to overfeed, they will accept a wide range of foods and should be fed well on small quality foods such as micro pellets and absolutely love treats of live daphnia.

Sexing and Breeding Celestial Pearl Danio:
In a group sexing can be easy, the females will be overall duller coloured with more pale red fins. They will also be a bit fatter; even though these fish are generally ‘chunky’ this can be easily seen when with males. The males with also have orangey stomachs and have black bars on the anal fin unlike the females. These fish can be bred quite easily much alike other cyprinidae species.