Burmese trout

Raiamas guttatus

Also known as Spotted trout barb

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 64–79°F (18–26°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 13.8 in (35 cm)
Minimum tank: 159 gal (600 L)
Temperament: Aggressive
Social behavior: Social
Tankmates: Tankmates with caution
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: India and the Irrawaddy basin, Myanmar
Family: Danionidae

Overview

This is a large, fast, predatory cyprinid for specialist keepers with serious space, not a community fish. It grows to around 35 centimeters, swims hard through open midwater, jumps, and treats anything it can swallow as food, so tankmate tolerance is genuinely limited: keep it only with large, robust species and watch it closely, or keep it in a species group where the tank is big enough. It is found in groups in the wild, but a group needs enormous volume, so think 600 liters and two meters of length as a minimum. Feeding is the easy part, since it takes meaty foods eagerly; containment and space are the hard parts.

In the wild

The Burmese trout runs clear, fast rivers and hill streams from India through the Irrawaddy basin of Myanmar, holding in moderate to swift current over gravel and stone. It needs cool, highly oxygenated, spotless water with strong flow, a long open swimming channel, and almost no obstructions to injure a startled fish. Keep it at 18 to 26 degrees Celsius with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5.

Good to know

Raiamas guttatus belongs to the danio family, Danionidae, and reaches about 35 centimeters, silver-sided with a wolfish, underslung jaw. Day described it in 1870; the name guttatus means spotted, for the two rows of blue spots along its flanks. It is an open-water predator of insects and fish, and its breeding is not recorded in captivity.

Did you know

It is called a trout for its shape and its habits, hanging in fast water to ambush prey, yet it is a carp relative with no trout blood at all, a case of very different fish arriving at the same design.