Spotted badis

Care at a glance

Overview

The spotted badis is the giant of its genus and a quiet, deliberate hunter that patrols the lower levels and cover. Keep it singly or as a single pair rather than a group, because it is territorial with its own kind; a species tank, or a tank with small, calm midwater fish, works best, since it will snap up anything tiny including shrimp. It is a carnivore that wants live and frozen foods such as bloodworm, daphnia and brine shrimp and may be slow to take dry food. Give it a densely planted tank of at least 80 liters with caves, roots and leaf litter, under subdued light.

In the wild

It lives in weedy, slow margins of the upper Brahmaputra system in Assam and nearby northeast India, among submerged roots, overhanging plants and leaf litter. Recreate that with a shaded, well planted tank, a soft substrate, driftwood and rock caves, and gentle flow. Keep the water soft to medium and close to neutral, about pH 6.0 to 7.5, and on the cool side at 18 to 25 C, since it comes from subtropical foothill waters rather than the warm tropics.

Good to know

Badis assamensis is the largest chameleonfish in the family Badidae, reaching about 7 cm, and was described by Ernst Ahl in 1937. It is a cave-spawning species of moderate breeding difficulty, the male taking a territory and guarding the eggs after a female deposits them in a shelter. Adults are best sexed and paired from a small group grown on together.

Did you know

Badis are called chameleonfish for good reason. A single spotted badis can slide from pale and washed out to dark and boldly marked within minutes as its mood shifts, and it performs the trick at the largest size in the genus.

Common questions

Related species

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