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On visiting my local aquatic outlet (Aqualife) in Nov, 2006, Steve Spencer pointed out a new species he had in. At this particular time I bought them under the "first" naming of them;- "Microrasbora sp galaxy". By April 2007 it had the official name as in my heading and became known as a Celestial Pearl Danio or Celestichthys margaritatus. The species comes from Myanmar and at first was thought to be limited to one locality. (* An update as of Feb 2007*) Apparently this unique location where these were found is already under serious threat. The flooded grassland vegetation is trampled to almost nothing and catches of this fish are really low. However, to bring it further up to date, by *June 2007, at least 5 new locations have been found for this fish as well as a further one deep in the forest. Some of these sites have a good population of these fish, so it would seem that the early "threatened" report is not as serious as we thought. Although I enjoy my livebearers, I do like to breed a good variety of fish and always enjoy a new challenge. I had never had a go at any Rasbora species and these were eyecatchingly attractive and brightly coloured! The male is approx 2 cms in size with a sheen of spots on the body and vivid red fins with black markings. Also he has a bright red "glow" under the belly.  A bonus is that the female, whilst lacking the brilliant red of the male, is also an attractive fish. She has the same body spots but her fins are less well marked.  I put the 2 pairs in a 24" planted tank (but not nearly as densely planted as I would have liked) with the PH around neutral and only Corys for company. After almost a week in hospital in December, I came home to be cheered up by the surprising sight of 2 very tiny fry swimming round in mid-water. I say swimming but they were moving forward in little jerking motions and were about 3 mms in length. To leave or remove? - that was the question! I had been away for 5 days, so how long had they been swimming around with the adults? As I was rather devoid of energy I decided to leave them and of course, the following day there was no sign of them! A steady supply..... However two days later and I spotted 2 more fry, but this time much smaller;- these were really small slivers of fry. I glassed them out and put them into a half toffeee jar and squeezed some Tetra min "E" in the tank to make a "cloud". Comparing sizes I would say that the first two had perhaps been in the tank almost a week and that the last two were new hatchings. Two days later and 2 more newly hatched fry were rescued. Without the extra chore of isolating the spawning pair in a small container with perhaps marbles and/or Java Moss, it would seem that every few days they are giving me a few new fry. All I have to do is, just keep checking the tank! Never count your chickens (or fry)........ Over the next 4 weeks I managed to remove 19 fry. My first step had been to put them in half a toffee jar for 4 or 5 days and then transfer them to a well planted 24" tank with just Corys for company. BIG mistake ! - I was moving them too soon and as a result, I was not getting sufficient food to them in what was quite a large area for tiny fry. (I thought, rather misguidedly that, as well as my food, they would find tiny infusorians to supplement their diet in a mature, well planted tank). Numbers soon decreased! My revised approach, after glassing the tiny fry, was to keep them in the toffee jar/small aquarium for 6 weeks. It was much easier to ensure they got good feeds and they developed much better. They were by then around 7 mms in size. I then transferred them to the 24" tank where they joined a few of the first fry which had survived. The fry are hardy and I had no losses during the 6 weeks. Spawning As such, I haven't observed the spawning act. All the male's twitching of fins, (dorsal, anal and caudal), and driving of the female are done in and around the horizontal Java Fern on Bogwood area.(As in the photo below)  Once the pair are happy with the courtship they always go inside the hollow of my upright bogwood (see photo below). If the eggs are scattered in there perhaps they are dropping into little niches and are also hidden by the Java Moss which is probably in there (?) Over these first 3 weeks I observed exactly the same pattern and, as the eggs are hatching and the fry are surviving;- "if it's not broken,don't mend it"!  The photo above shows the female just about to enter the hollow bogwood, while the male can just be seen in the Java Fern where most of the courtship takes place. Behaviour As well as being a very colourful fish, they are also very active. The males are always occupied, either chasing the females or driving each other off. In this sparring, there is no physical damage to the males. In fact this pre-occupation with courtship and male supremacy is probably a factor as to why the fry can swim around in open water;- chasing the fry would be a distraction! Fry growth At 3 weeks the fry are becoming much more fuller bodied, are about 5 mms long and have a darker body. Despite plant cover, they do seem to prefer being in open water where they look for any food which drifts with the current. By the age of two months they have reached 1 cm in length, still filling out in the body where the spots are showing, but as yet no real fin colour to be seen. Also they are now choosing to swim at gravel and plant level, rather than mid water where they used to look for food. At 3 months+ they have reached just over 1 cm in size and now the male can be identified. His fins still lack some of that bold black and red pattern of an adult, but he clearly shows a red glow on his underside. |
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Without encountering any real difficulties, I now had 9 juvenile fish growing on nicely. (In fact my only difficulty has been trying to capture a good photo which really reflects the beauty of the male! Not yet happy with the one I've got!). As I gradually build up my numbers I have no doubt that a good sized group of these fish will be an attractive sight in the aquarium. Well worth a little bit of effort! Just a question now of growing them on and seeing at what age they will spawn. Copyright; Article and photos. Ivor Hilton |
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