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I got them yesterday from Frank's Aquarium.

I have 6 in my five gallon and I wish I had gotten more.

They are so tiny and fast!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Katie215512/IMG_2305.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/Katie215512/IMG_2310.jpg

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

Those are awesome-looking fish. If they're as small as they look in the photos, you could probably put at least seven to ten more in that tank. They look even smaller than my Galaxy Rasboras (and they are smaller than Cherry Shrimp).

Are you going to try and breed them? What type of water are you keeping them in?

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

They are about nickel length and very thin bodied. They remind me of livebearer fry.

I am not actively trying to breed, but if it happens it happens. However, my betta and snail would probably prevent any eggs from hatching.

The water in my area is pretty hard AFAIK. I've never checked the exact level.

I would love to have a big school of them. But I took into account the other 2 residents and went conservative =\

So far, we've only counted 5. I am hoping it was just a mix up at the breeders

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

I don't know what kind of fish those are, as you people always talk in scientific names, but they look like endler's livebearers to me.

Boraras merah is a small Cyprinid (relative of goldfish and danios) native to Southeast Asia. I think they are actually close relatives of the true rasboras (genus Rasbora), as opposed to the Galaxy "Rasboras" which I believe are actually thought to be more closely related to danios but for some reason are placed in the genus Microrasbora.

In fact, the Galaxy Rasboras and (I think) Microrasbora erythromicron are due to be assigned to a new genus by the end of this month. Does anyone here know how to tell the difference between Boraras and (true) Microrasbora? I can't figure out any noticable differences between the two... Probably just like minor skeletal differences or something.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Their common names are Pheonix or Exclamation point rasboras. Im sure there are more out there though.

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

Are they eating flakes or just live/frozen foods?

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

They seem to be eating the flakes alright. It has been a bit of a challenge getting them to realize that there is food in the water and making it small enough for them to eat.

Im going to my LFS this weekend to pick up crickets so Im going to check their food selection.

Is there anything in particular they might benefit from?

Edit: As far as Frank's Aquarium goes, I highly recommend them. Frank made sure my fish stayed warm and sent them days after a storm dumped additional snow on top of their 5'. He also made sure the post office called us when they arrived so we could pick them up. He is also offering to refund the money for the missing fish.

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

If they are eating flakes, that will provide all the nutrients they need. Like all fish, however, they prefer a diverse diet and will relish small live foods like microworms, baby brine shrimp, Daphnia, etc. Live foods would probably be necessary for stimulating spawning behavior.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Those are really nice looking if albeit really small fish. As Natalie stated I would think that they would really relish any type of small live food such as microworms or baby brine shrimp. You can easily make your own brine shrimp hatchery to hatch your own.

If you're interested in hatching your own here is a link for a really simple DIY project. There is also several that are made from 2 liter soda bottles that work really well, but I wasn't able to locate my link for them. If you do a google search I'm sure you could find them.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/diy_brineshrimp_hatchery.php

Jim

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Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody. -- Mark Twain

Whats the deal with frozen and freeze-dried foods? In particular what are their pros and cons?

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

Well, the freezing process eliminates some parasites and various other nasties that come in with livefood batches, and freeze drying kills virtually all of them, but originally the intention was just to provide conveinience food for fish. With all freezing processes there will be a loss or degrading of some vitamins, notably the b vitamins like thiamin are some of the most adversely affected.

The quality manufacturers sometimes find ways to fortify the frozen foods, which is handy.

Live food sources be they frozen or not are tasty, and very stimulating to fish and they trigger off all kinds of behaviour, from aggression to mating.

The common choice, the bloodworm ,is packed with haemoglobin and fats and this dietary conditioning often stimulates fish to breed, or at least gives them a few extra calories to make the burden of courtship and egg production easier.They have to be about the most universally accepted livefood around, there is something about the smell of haemaglobin once it hits the water that most fish with even the tiniest streak of carnivory in them find almost impossible to resist. Even inveterate algae eaters will often make a beeline straight to them. I have an ottocinclus that has never accepted algae wafers or any flake, but even he will make a break in his all algae diet for the occassional bloodworm!

Freeze dried is now the only way I use tubifex, any other way seems to cause no end of disease issues. Brineshrimp, Bloodworm, blackworm,daphnia, and glassworm all seem fine in just the frozen type.

Its just a good addition to keep the diet at varied as possible. While any single one of those foods is not as nutritionally balanced as a manufactured flake or pellet food, they do contain fats ,protiens, and enzymes that you just cant get into a fish any other way.These elements simply do not survive the processing. They are therefore an excellent addition to,( or treat component of,) a healthy varied diet.

Cant hurt to try some if you havent yet, it certainly never fails to give fish a lift, but since you have such tiny fish you dont really want to have to expose them to antiparasite meds, so id avoid the literally alive foods, unless you raise them yourself and can be sure of the conditions they were raised in.

You might find freeze dried the safest option, although regular frozen livefoods, once given a quick rinse are usually considered a very low risk for infection. Frozen irradiated foods are usually very safe too.