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time for some expert input after searching the web for too long...

have had this fish in an aquarium for ~8 years... amazed it has lived that long given the lack of attention it has gotten. a bit less than 2" long.

thanks!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v38/dougr/Deano.jpg

It's a Brilliant Rasbora, Rasbora borapetensis. It looks a bit skinny in the picture (sometimes just a sign of old age), but if it's been living for eight years you must be doing something right. The normal life expectancy for most rasboras is around five years.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Borapetensis are tough little guys -- I'm puzzled by the trouble shops have selling them, since they're also quite pretty -- and if you feed yours properly and pay even minimally proper attention to its water quality, it may last a lot longer. (In my experience, Harlequins are also rather tough little fish -- a lot more so than most tetras.)

Rasbora borapetensis is one of those fishes I have a soft spot for. A delightfully attractive, hardy fish that looks wonderful in large schools - if you can keep a shoal of 12 or more in a long aquarium and let them sweep up and down the length of the aquarium, they make a compelling display.

Matgure males have somewhat brighter red caudal fins. Other than that, gender differences are few, and usually you have to rely upon the time honoured increased rotundity of ripe females to tell them apart.

The fish needs open swimming areas and some plant thickets. In the wild, they're found in streams that contain Cryptocoryne and Aponogeton type plants, so these will be particularly welcomed as cover plants. While they exhibit no major preference for a particular pH and hardness combination for maintenance (they have quite a broad range of tolerance) for breeding it's best to give them soft, acidic water. Lively and playful without being nippy, colourful and decorative without being touchy and sensitive, Rasbora borapetensis has a LOT to recommend it.

I just wish they were more widely avaialble here in the UK. They're a GREAT community fish - heaps of virtues and almost no vices.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002