Chilli Rasbora

Boraras brigittae

Note: Due to variations within species, your item may not look identical
to the image provided

Care

The beautiful, diminutive Chilli Rasbora is known only from
heavily-vegetated, peat forest swamps in southern Borneo, Indonesia. These fish
are an ideal choice for small, heavily planted softwater aquaria. The tank must
be mature and have myriad of hiding places amongst driftwood and thick vegetation,
which should include floating species to help diffuse the light. Filtration
should be good but water movement gentle. These peaceful shoaling fish can be
rather timid, so a decent sized group of 12 or more will help them to feel more
secure. A larger group will also result in a more effective, natural-looking
shoal, with males displaying their best colours as they compete with one
another for female attention. Tankmates, if desired, must also be small and
peaceable; for example, small Caridina and Neocaridina shrimp, Kuhli loaches
(Pangio spp.), Otocinclus catfish, pygmy Corydoras spp., Eirmotus octozona,
Trigonostigma spp., and Blue Eyes (Pseudomugil spp.) could all be considered
suitable. Much attention must be paid to water quality since Chilli Rasboras
are somewhat delicate and do not tolerate elevated nitrates or swings in water
chemistry. Acclimatise very carefully. This species is very similar in
appearance to its congener B. urophthalmoides, the Spice Rasbora; these two
species being the only members of the genus that possess a dark lateral body
stripe. However, they can be told apart as follows: B. brigittae attains a
larger adult size and displays an insignificant dark blotch on the caudal
peduncle (vs. very obvious caudal blotch in B. urophthalmoides) plus B.
brigittae tends to be a brighter red colour overall. In some cases, the lateral
dark stripe on B. brigittae is broken rather than one solid line, and sometimes
the tiny caudal blotch is absent.

Feeding

Small frozen foods such as baby brineshrimp,
mini-bloodworm, cyclops, and daphnia, plus crushed flake and micropellets.

Breeding

B. brigittae belongs to a group of fish that are known as
continual spawners, which is to say that in the case of mature fish, small
numbers of eggs are laid daily. In densely planted aquaria with large groups of
well-conditioned B. brigittae, spawnings should occur regularly with eggs being
scattered over vegetation and decor. The eggs and resultant tiny larvae will be
seen as food by the adults, but if there is plenty of plant cover, some should
survive into adulthood. If a greater number of fry is desired, a separate
bare-bottomed breeding aquarium (with air powered sponge filter) should be set
up with plenty of Java moss/spawning mops and a layer of mesh raised a small
way from the tank bottom so that any eggs that fail to adhere to the
plants/mops fall through to safety, away from the adults. The water conditions
should match that of the main aquarium. Carefully add one or two
well-conditioned pair/s of B. brigittae, and once settled they should spawn the
following morning. It is recommended that the adults are moved back to the main
aquarium within 48 hours as the first eggs will be starting to hatch by then.
The miniscule fry will feed off their yolk sacs to begin with, but will soon
require suitably sized foodstuffs such as infusoria and Paramecium, moving on
to slightly bigger foods such as Artemia nauplii as they grow. A variety of
foods may be needed for a while as you may end up with fry of slightly
different sizes from the 2 days of continual spawning. Small partial water
changes must be carried out with the utmost of care to avoid shocking the
extremely delicate fry.