Bangka rasbora

Rasbora bankanensis

Also known as Rasbora bangkanensis, Golden rasbora

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–81°F (22–27°C)
pH: 5.0–7.0
Adult size: 2.8 in (7 cm)
Minimum tank: 24 gal (90 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Bangka Island, Sumatra and Borneo, Indonesia and Malaysia
Family: Danionidae

Overview

Keep this mid-sized rasbora in a school of eight or more; in a group it colors up and stays out in open midwater, while lone fish turn nervous and pale. It is peaceful and fits a quiet community of similarly calm species, sitting comfortably between tiny nano rasboras and larger community fish. Feed small foods it can manage easily, such as crushed flake, micro pellets, and frozen daphnia, cyclops, and baby brine shrimp. A planted tank of around 90 liters with some open swimming room suits it well.

In the wild

The Bangka rasbora lives in forest streams and peat-influenced waters on Bangka Island and across parts of Sumatra and Borneo, where the water is soft, often tea-stained, and gently flowing. Recreate that with a planted, blackwater-leaning tank, a dark substrate, and leaf litter or botanicals to soften and tint the water. Keep it at 22 to 27 degrees Celsius with a pH of 5.0 to 7.0.

Good to know

Rasbora bankanensis belongs to the danio and rasbora family, Danionidae, and grows to about 7 centimeters. Bleeker described it in 1853 and named it for Bangka, the island where the first specimens were found; the trade spelling with an extra letter is kept among its aliases so searches still land here. Its spawning has not been documented in the hobby.

Did you know

Bangka is one of the world's great tin-mining islands, its landscape pocked with dredge ponds, yet this little rasbora still holds on in the forest streams that thread between them.