Scarlet Badis Dario Dario Feeding tips.

I just got a Scarlet Badis and find them to be incredibly picky eaters. I tried flake, pellet, frozen copepods, freeze dried blood worms. I did my research prior to buying this guy as a center piece. They love live foods so I bought Scuds, not enough to culture them(I should since all my fish decimate any amount I put in.). He seemed to love chasing anything small. Their prey drive is strong. So I was at a loss. I am about to culture micro worms but that doesn't come in until later. I was wondering if any other Dario Dario keepers had luck training them to eat dry or prepared food? Does this get better as they age. It seems his colors aren't fully in yet. Still a tiny little guy.

As a last ditch effort I soaked a few dried bloodworms in garlic and used aquascaping tweezers to dangle it in front of him. He jumped on it and at a piece that was half as long as he was.... And he kept it down. I hope this continues to work until I get more live food for the guy.

 

They highly prefer live, but will normally eat blood worms. I kept mine in a tank with a nice scud population and plenty of gravel for them to hide and breed in, so never worried about feeding them. There's almost zero chance of getting them on prepared foods. They'll hold nano pellets in their mouths for several minutes, but always spit them out.

 

I contemplated that. because I have 5 x Corycats/3 x Kuhli Loaches, how many should I put in here without decimating my plants? They plowed through 20 of them in a day, found them all.

 

I would not feed them blood worms. I had success with frozen mysis and daphnia; release those in a current and you might be lucky. In any case, live food is better and less of a hassle and waste than frozen.

You take one of those Hobby Artemia dishes. Add water with "Artemia salt" and Artemia eggs (bottle of eggs stored in a fridge...twice a week I take some out and put it in the dish). Make sure the ambient temperature is not cold. No need for an air pump - sure, suppliers will tell you, you need one. Wait about 24 hours and scoop the nauplii out with the little filter in the middle of the dish. The day after, you can do this one more time with the remaining nauplii. So if you prepare this twice a week, you can feed them 4x high-quality live food a week.

The remaining days it is either fasting (which is healthy) and ambushing live foods. I keep my dario in species-only tanks and heavily understocked. I can spot copepods in my tanks. Adding lots of plants and dry leaves helps. And don't clean substrates (silly idea anyhow).

My experience with scarlets in species-only tanks confirm natural observations - at least of some populations; they are not bottom dwellers which they appear to be in community tanks. Scarlets like to ambush critters amongst big floating plants in still water conditions. You can optionally agitate the water surface at night; a tiny air stone/pump is all it takes to keep water surface crystal clean.

Good luck.

 

Oh that's amazing. Okay. I think I will try that. I didn't think culturing Brine shrimp would be easy but I'm looking at setups and they're literally hands off once it's started. And following that schedule the eggs should last a long time. I have my Dario Dario in a tank with bottom feeders. The one I have seems really bold and doesn't mind being around the corys or the kuhli loaches. He actively swims all around my tank even near the top to see if there is food. I had one subdominant male who was sick and died the day of getting him and he was shy all the time and hide regularly. I love the personality of these guys. I never took them for bottom dwellers, especially the more dominant male I have now. He sits next to the other fish regularly it's odd since I've heard these fish are shy.
I have microworms coming as well and some daphnia to keep a constant food source in there with variety. But I will be getting an artmeia dish or something similar to get this going as something more regular than culturing these others.

 

People keeping guppies no doubt will find these fish shy...

Dario are not timid; they just have a strong preference to reside and ambush critters in "bushes" and floating plants. Because my tanks are so understocked, I don't notice fish in my tanks; I have to look for 'em!

I had them with other fish in the past; dominant males have no problem chasing away fish that are much bigger. I believe they are sometimes nicknamed dwarf chiclids from Asia for a reason.

Yes, they do seem to be outcompeted during breakfast, but this is simply due to their feeding strategy; they don't cruise and hunt; they ambush instead.

Once you have experience with the Artemia dish and it becomes second nature, you'll be wondering why people offer dry or frozen foods to their fish.

 

I feed my scarlet badis live white worms as a staple diet, he goes absolutely nuts for them every single time. They squirm wildly underwater, so they attract attention fast. Mine loves to pick em off the plants.
They're super easy to culture, they just live in a box of damp dirt and eat fish food, and don't even stink. The most difficult thing is you might need a wine cooler or minifridge to keep them at the optimal 55-65 degree temperature.

 

Thanks for the advise but my little guy passed away. I went back to the store and all their fish in that same nano tank were dead or dying... Smh. I'm going to wait until I can find some that are healthy. I have daphnia and some brine shrimp ready to go right now though so I am not caught unprepared. In the mean time though... I did get some green neons and CPDs! Amazing fish...

On a side note ruud . Is that a Black Tiger Dario in your dp? They look very similar to their Indian counterparts. How are they in comparason?

 

Thanks for the advise but my little guy passed away. I went back to the store and all their fish in that same nano tank were dead or dying... Smh. I'm going to wait until I can find some that are healthy. I have daphnia and some brine shrimp ready to go right now though so I am not caught unprepared. In the mean time though... I did get some green neons and CPDs! Amazing fish...

On a side note ruud . Is that a Black Tiger Dario in your dp? They look very similar to their Indian counterparts. How are they in comparason?

Correct. Or a Dario hysginon color morph. Waiting for a verdict.
This is the fish I have (a lot) more experience with. They get a bit bigger than scarlets; just as picky when it comes to eating; perhaps even more difficult to sex; actually prefer bottom life and not floating plants.

I keep and breed them in several tanks, and also keep them in a small group in a 30 gallon tank. In this tank they shoal a lot. I don't tag individuals; not conducting any science; but just striking to see that if you keep fish in a species-only tank that would be considered large given their tiny sizes, a fish deemed solitary turns out to be social. I have red observations that scarlets aggregate in nature also.

 

Hey just wanted to thank you ruud. Since getting live food all my fish seem to have colored up. Their colors somehow seem more vibrant? I don't know if that's just a placebo but they seem happier and colors brighter. My Betta, CPD, Tetras, Guppies, Mollies seem to be looking their best. Odd. Don't think I will go back to flake regularly.

 

Hey just wanted to thank you ruud. Since getting live food all my fish seem to have colored up. Their colors somehow seem more vibrant? I don't know if that's just a placebo but they seem happier and colors brighter. My Betta, CPD, Tetras, Guppies, Mollies seem to be looking their best. Odd. Don't think I will go back to flake regularly.

I am VERY lucky that I have a lfs that sells blackworms and adult live brine shrimp. I usually can get some whenever I want. At least one or the other. My Scarlet Badis eat frozen bloodworms and Brine Shrimp too for the most part. I would see what they will eat of prepared food before going all live. My fish of course all love the live food. Its hilarious watching the Chilis eating a giant blackworm. They jerk them all over but they do it....Those worms must compress a bunch because no one ever looks like they are packed full.

 

StarGirl , I have no one near me selling live foods... All frozen or flake. Not sure what the deal in Georgia is, but there are some more mom and pop shops I am going to check out tomorrow to see what they have in stock. I've had to order online for live food. The microworms you suggested in another post haven't come in yet -.- Didn't realize that the shipping would take 2 weeks. So I have a daphnia culture going, some brine shrimp eggs(God you really don't need a large amount for these guys to hatch. A pinch feeds all mine for a couple days.) and those microworms. It really is cool to see them hunt the live food down. I can barely see these things but I guess most of a fishes head being eyes helps because they dart as soon as they notice movement.

I have to find a decent fish store that isn't going to charge me an arm and a leg for next day shipping. Bulk sellers are selling 3-6 at a time and I don't know if I want to put a badis in every tank I have LOL. But that may make the most sense. They seem so inquisitive and peaceful to species that aren't their own. They seem to have really neat personalities.

 

StarGirl , I have no one near me selling live foods... All frozen or flake. Not sure what the deal in Georgia is, but there are some more mom and pop shops I am going to check out tomorrow to see what they have in stock. I've had to order online for live food. The microworms you suggested in another post haven't come in yet -.- Didn't realize that the shipping would take 2 weeks. So I have a daphnia culture going, some brine shrimp eggs(God you really don't need a large amount for these guys to hatch. A pinch feeds all mine for a couple days.) and those microworms. It really is cool to see them hunt the live food down. I can barely see these things but I guess most of a fishes head being eyes helps because they dart as soon as they notice movement.

I have to find a decent fish store that isn't going to charge me an arm and a leg for next day shipping. Bulk sellers are selling 3-6 at a time and I don't know if I want to put a badis in every tank I have LOL. But that may make the most sense. They seem so inquisitive and peaceful to species that aren't their own. They seem to have really neat personalities.

Around here females seem hard to come by. I got a female and 2 males right now that all get along pretty good. They are pretty funny watching them eat. They have to stare at it for a minute before they eat anything...lol

 

Finally got a healthy Badis. Photos do not do this fish justice. They are such beautiful fish and watching them eat is interesting. StarGirl They really do stare at their food and they always seem to move with purpose. I've seem mine chase a CPD away from his feeding area. Only the one trying to go for the food he was staring at lol. They love brine shrimp. Everyone seems too except some of my kuhli loaches. I've seen my ghost shrimp grab them out of the water.

On a side note, is it normal for them to glass surf occasionally? Side to side not up and down.

 

Yes, glass surfing is normal, especially in the first weeks. I would try to reduce it personally, though; I don't enjoy observing this behaviour.

So fool around with light settings, covers, plants.

 

I am not a good example at all of stocking levels, but in my 9g it works. They all get along. I have 2 males and 1 female. The males flutter by each other, another crazy thing to watch ....little peacocks, but that is it. No picking or chasing ever.

When I separated the pair that hung together all the time to my 5g the male left in the 9g glass surfed a lot but not all the time. Now the pair is back and they are all normal again. Try to find a female? The one I have didnt really like being by himself.