Fire bar danio

Devario maetaengensis

Also known as Mae Taeng danio, Devario maetangensis

FreshwaterFish

Fire bar danio (Devario maetaengensis) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 64–77°F (18–25°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 2.4 in (6 cm)
Minimum tank: 20 gal (75 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Mae Taeng basin, northern Thailand
Family: Danionidae

Overview

An easy, cool-leaning danio that colors up fast in a school of eight or more and stays busy across the midwater. It is peaceful and suits an unheated or lightly heated hill-stream community with white clouds, hillstream loaches, and other temperate small fish. Fit a tight lid, since like all danios it jumps. Feed a straightforward omnivore diet of quality flake and micro pellets with frozen bloodworm and daphnia for condition and color. A planted tank of around 75 liters with some flow suits a group.

In the wild

The fire bar danio comes from the Nam Mae Taeng, a cool mountain tributary of the Ping in northern Thailand, in clear, flowing water. Recreate that with brisk current, high oxygen, a substrate of sand and gravel, and planting around open swimming space. It leans cool, so keep it at 18 to 25 degrees Celsius with a pH of 6.5 to 7.5.

Good to know

Devario maetaengensis belongs to the danio family, Danionidae, and stays around 6 centimeters. Fang described it in 1997 and named it for the Nam Mae Taeng, its home river. Males carry the glowing orange bar behind the gill that gives the fish its trade name. It is an egg-scattering spawner, which puts its breeding at a moderate level of difficulty.

Did you know

The fire in its name is one bright orange bar just behind the gill cover, lit up most strongly on males when the school gathers and the fish begin to display.