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Does anyone here have pearl danio? My fish supplier tossed one in with a batch of gouramis I had ordered and it has turned out to be the biggest boss of the tank. I don't know why my other fish take any notice of the pint sized pipsqueak but he has all the other fish huddled up one end of the tank.

A more recent shot.

Danios are very active fish and like the company of other danios. They can be an aggravation to the other, slower fish in a tank. My advice would be to either tank him back to the fish store, or get him some friends if you have the space (need to be in groups of five or more). They are pretty fish, but look/behave better in schools. Your gourami might not care for their company, however since they can be nippy even in schools.

I had zebra danios when I cycled the Betta tank and I noticed the odd one was very aggressive even though there were 6 in the 32 Lt tank

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He has decided to be reasonable and has decreased amount of space he needs so the other fish aren't constantly trespassing in his bit of tank. He has one friend allowed in his space, a lemon tetra. Odd pairing.

That is not a pearl danio. That is a Blue Tetra AKA Cochu's Blue Tetra, Boehlkea fredcochui. Which makes the lemon tetra a lot less of an odd schoolmate, doesn't it? I haven't personally experienced keeping this species... but I really want to give these guys a try someday.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Good catch, Shini. Wish I had popped in here earlier. The adipose fin should indicate that it is a characin (or, at the very least, not a cyprinid). I wasn't sure on the species though -- characins aren't really my thing.

So adipose fin = characin = tetra
No adipose fin = cyprinid = danio

How do you guys remember these odd names? Time and practice? I am off to look on all my fishies for adipose fins.

Only a few fish families have adipose fins, including catfish, salmonids, and characins. As a result, it would be better to say "No adipose fin = not a tetra, catfish, etc." instead of trying to directly identify it based solely on absence of an adipose fin. You'd have to look at other physical characteristics to do that -- after all, you're not going to find a cichlid that looks much like cyprinid that looks much like gourami.

As far as names go, you'll get the hang of it. For the first two years I was keeping fish, I knew absolutely nothing about different types of fish apart from "Ooh! That one is pretty!" and "I don't like that one."

well, whatever you choose to call it, a shoal of those against a heavily planted back ground would be awesome... I had been thinking of a shoal of Lemons whenI set up the 55g. Some of these litte critters would go well with the Lemons... really great looking little fish and great pics Brengun!

Cochu's Blues are unusual among Tetras in that they not only don't school, but are positively anti-social -- most are very fond of furiously chasing all their tankmates (including the other Cochu's Blues) around the tank, although they never seem to actually bite anyone. Usually they eventually get bored with this and settle down. So your own delinquent will probably become more civilized in a few days -- if he doesn't, you may have to take him back.

(Lately they've started appearing in massive, cheap quantities in American fish stores because fish farms have finally learned how to breed them -- and the captive-raised ones seem to have better manners, presumably because they spent their Formative Years in a crowded environment that they couldn't escape from.)

I thought that I heard that Cochu's Blues were a little aggressive, but wasn't entirely sure. In any case, all the Blues at the LFS look quite happy and peaceful together, though it's not like I was heavily observing their behavior.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

It was probably from severe overcrowding, kinda like how you can keep 30 Rift Lake cichlids in a small tank with very little aggression between them because they are never given the chance to create a territory.

That's probably part of the issue, since they are stuffing about 40 fish into a 10 gallon aquarium.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.