Scarlet badis

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep either one male alone or a harem of one male with several females in a tank of 40 liters or more, since rival males are territorial and need broken sight lines between them. They are mostly peaceful but shy, holding to the middle of the tank among dense planting. Water should sit at 22 to 26 C with a pH from 6.5 to 7.5 and gentle flow. They are micropredators that usually refuse flake, so feed small live or frozen foods like baby brine, daphnia, cyclops, and microworms. Pair them only with small, calm tankmates, or keep them in a species tank so they get enough food.

In the wild

Scarlet badis come from clear, shallow, heavily planted streams in the Brahmaputra tributaries of West Bengal and Assam in India. These are slow-moving waters thick with vegetation over fine sand and leaf litter. To match that, give them a densely planted tank of at least 40 liters with a fine substrate, plenty of cover, and gentle flow. Keep the water at 22 to 26 C with a pH from 6.5 to 7.5.

Good to know

This is a tiny fish in the family Badidae, with males reaching only about 2 cm and females a bit smaller. It is a substrate spawner, laying eggs low among plants or in tight spaces, and the fry hatch extremely small. Most fish offered for sale are wild caught from their native range in northeast India.

Did you know

At 2 cm, this is one of the smallest percoid fish in the hobby, and the deep red and pale bar coloring belongs to the males. Females stay a plain grayish brown, so a tank of color means a tank of males, which is exactly the setup that triggers their territorial squabbling.

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