Care
This beautiful small shimmering bluish-silver Asian Rummynose is an excellent choice for those community aquariums with moderate to hard water conditions. As a shoaling species, they are best kept in groups of 6 or more fish. In the wild, they congregate in huge numbers, so the more you can keep together, the more natural it will be for them. The water in their native environment, Lake Inle - and its surrounding swamplands (where this species is also found) - is of a naturally hard alkaline composition. Here the waters are heavily vegetated and, in places, often quite turbid. The aquarium housing Asian Rummynoses should consist of dark substrate and background, with dense planting to create much appreciated shady areas. This will help to bring out their best colours, particularly those of the stunning males. If these fish are transferred to water that is too soft, they tend to be quite delicate and lose a lot of their beautiful colouration. Fairly peaceable, but a lively species when settled into ideal conditions, Asian Rummynoses are suitable to be kept alongside other small fishes of a similar disposition. However, fancy long-finned varieties are best avoided (particularly in smaller aquaria) as the fins may prove too much of a temptation. It is useful to outnumber the male Asian Rummynoses 2:1 with females wherever possible, as the presence of too many males will result in constant sparring matches. These little scuffles will still happen from time to time with the males taking on particularly superb colouration as they show off to the females, but it should not be overly-encouraged with an excess number of males in the tank, as it may well prove too stressful if it were to continually occur. These fish do not fare well at temperatures above 25 °C, so please bear this in mind when choosing possible tankmates. May also be seen on sale as Naked Microrasbora.
Feeding
Flake, micropellets, small frozen foods such as daphnia, mosquito larvae, baby brineshrimp etc.
Breeding
Simultaneous spawnings (i.e. more than one pair) have been observed in species-only aquaria, heavily planted with tall plants. It is said that a pair of fish roll and entwine as the eggs are released/fertilised and deposited on the underside of broad-leaved plants near to the waters surface. Larger brood sizes are likely to be much more successful in a separate breeding aquarium furnished with the same tall broad-leaved plants and spawning mops near the surface. If more than one male is present in a confined space, they may squabble with each other and "forget" about spawning, hence the need to bring together just one male with one female in the small breeding aquarium. The parent fish will predate on the eggs, so it is advisable to acclimatise them back to the main aquarium once spawning has ceased. Separate spawns should not be placed into the same growing-on tank as the larger fry will pick on the smaller fry, damaging them and in some cases even killing them. Rearing the tiny fry is very challenging, with one of the main problems being their susceptibility to velvet disease. You can expect the eggs to hatch within 72 hours, and after a further 72-96 hours, the fry will become free-swimming.
