Dario Growth

[grizzlyone]

Back in October I picked up 5 Darios of less than 1 inch...

Here's a picture of the babies:

http://www.putfile.com/pic/7886055

Here's a picture of the more mature dario:

http://www.putfile.com/pic/7886054

These guys are about 3-4 inches now and fat and happy.

Kevin

[Jim Powers]

Very nice!!
Nice hillstream pics too.

[Emma Turner]

You've worked wonders with them, Kevin. How do you find them, temperament-wise? I'm always curious to know if anyone has seen the aggressive behaviour I saw when I tried 13 of them in my big clown loach tank (long term members here will remember the nightmare job I had in catching them out after they terrorised even the giant clowns ).

Emma

[grizzlyone]

With 5 of them , it seems to be a good number. The largest dario is the most timid...I've seen the middle guy nip at the big histronica once in a while like he's trying to prove something and then the histronica puts him in his place...he's about 5 times his size...lol.

The darios are mostly fearless except for the largest...if you see the video clips you can see one of the darios grab a bloodworm cube and try to drag it off to the cave before he's relieved of his prize by one of the big guys..I almost dropped the camera it was so funny. The yoyos and the angelicus are the most outgoing, followed by the darios and then the histronica. The shistura can be brave when something interesting is happening....although once in a while I see them doing a long circular oval from the top of the tank straight down to the bottom over and over...thats a hoot too..

Kevin

[piggy4]

Hi Emma and Kevin, i've wondered why Emmas Dario's were on the troublesome side ? i have a group of 19 and have no problems at all ,other Botias in the tank are 10 Rostrata's and 9 Almorhae , perhaps the C.Macracantha [clowns] being larger , made them easy targets ? strangely i see less of the Dario's even though their numbers are greater ! perhaps they are more territorial and spend more time defending their hidey holes ? oh i forgot there are 4 S.Berdmorei in there also , these are a little feisty also but never see any damage on fins or bodies ! I suppose every tank creates a certain behaviour pattern ?
B t w Kevin your video's are brilliant ! they really show the nature of these Botia's , i go as far as to tell anyone thinking of buying any of these Loaches to take a long look at the Vids first !

[grizzlyone]

Thanks piggy. I think you are right about every tank being different. I think one of the reasons that I like keeping fish is that its a biological, chemical and psychological experiment all rolled up into one. If you change this variable, then this happens, if you add a new fish, type of fish, this happens, if you change this water chemistry parameter this happens...if you add this leaf, then you get babies, if you have this mix, this happens.

On the Psychology side though I'm not sure if I'm studying the fish or they are studying me...sometimes I think they do certain things just to drive me crazy...I also think they do things in other peoples tanks (like spawn) just to drive me nuts too...oh, well for me, its a short drive...lol


I wish the vids online were clearer. The original quicktime from my olympus camera is much more detailed. Thanks again for the kind words.


Kevin