Gold ring danio

Danio tinwini

Also known as Brachydanio tinwini, Fire ring danio

FreshwaterFish

Gold ring danio (Danio tinwini) — AverageWalrus · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 64–79°F (18–26°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 1.2 in (3 cm)
Minimum tank: 11 gal (40 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Beginner
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Common
Origin: Northern Myanmar (Mogaung Chaung, Kachin State; Irrawaddy basin)
Family: Cyprinidae

Overview

Keep them in a group of at least eight to ten, more if you can, in a tank of 40 liters or up. Bigger groups settle them down and bring out better color, since lone fish or small groups stay skittish. They are peaceful and swim through the middle of the water column, staying active most of the day. Run the water cool to room temperature, roughly 18 to 26 C, soft, and acidic to neutral around pH 6.5 to 7.5. They are strong jumpers like other danios, so a tight-fitting lid is essential. Feed small flakes, micro pellets, and frozen treats like daphnia or baby brine, and watch that they don't outcompete slow or shy tankmates at feeding time.

In the wild

Gold ring danios come from clear, slow streams in the Irrawaddy basin of northern Myanmar, around the Mogaung Chaung in Kachin State. To match that, give them a planted tank with darker substrate, some open mid-water swimming room, and gentle to moderate flow. They like soft to moderately hard water that sits slightly acidic to neutral, a pH of about 6.5 to 7.5, and they handle a wide band from 18 to 26 C, so in a stable room a heater is often optional.

Good to know

This is a small cyprinid in the family Cyprinidae, sometimes listed as Brachydanio tinwini, topping out around 3 cm. It is an egg scatterer with no parental care, and adults will eat their own eggs. Most fish in the trade are commercially bred.

Did you know

The name comes from the broken pattern along the body, a row of dark blotches and dashes over a pale gold ground rather than the clean stripes you see on a zebra danio. It was only described for science in 2007 and named after Hla Tin Win, the Burmese collector who first found it.