Badis red “Scarlet” (Dario dario or Badis sp. “Scarlet”). Chameleon fish - peaceful, small, rare Add your comment

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Badis-badis, or Chameleon Fish Badis badis (Hamilton - Buchanan, 1822) Badis-badis, or Chameleon Fish, was brought to Europe from India for the German fish farming company Matte and Thum. Behind short period

this fish was successfully propagated and distributed throughout Germany. and soon it already appeared in a number of other European countries.

The chameleon fish B. badis is a member of a very ancient family of fish: Badidae, which is probably now extinct. This family is often considered by some taxonomists to be a subfamily of the family Nandidae. In 1936, a brown-red form of chameleon fish from Burma was described, which was given a subspecies status and has the scientific name B.badis burmanicus.

Badis-badis, or Chameleon Fish, live rather secretively; they do not like the company of other species, so they are usually kept separately. In aquariums where chameleon fish live, diffused lighting is necessary, a sufficient number of shelters must be equipped and many plants must be planted.

The diet of Badis-badis consists mainly of live food, and its favorite food is tubifex and small larvae of aquatic insects. Chameleon fish live in natural habitats in their homeland in South-East Asia

in a variety of stagnant bodies of water, where their males grow up to 8 centimeters in length, females are smaller.

The color of the male chameleon fish is characterized by an iron sheen, as well as frequent alternation of a wide range of colors. The fins of males are stronger than those of females. Old males look somewhat bow-shaped, so their abdomen is sunken. Females are smaller than males and have a paler color, and their abdomen is distinctly convex.

These fish are only placed in pairs for spawning, as the males are territorial and aggressive towards each other. During spawning, females lay eggs in the cavity of a flower pot or on its surface, as well as on stones lightly covered with plants on top. Some males can prepare special spawning grounds by making them in the sand in the form of small holes.

The laid eggs are transparent, with a sticky coating, about 0.8 mm in size. Chameleon fish are sometimes considered an unproductive fish, although during one spawning one female can produce 200 or more fry. Subsequently, the male takes care of the eggs and fry laid by the female, although his presence is not necessary. Females must be removed immediately after spawning. Larvae emerge from the eggs after 48 hours. After about a week, the larvae complete their development and turn into fry, which can be given their first food - brine shrimp. The fry are inactive; they usually stay near the bottom and in other hidden places. Their body is transparent, with the exception of a black spot on the head and tail, so that the fry are very difficult to see against the background of the mottled bottom.

How good is this little badis! The ceremonial coloring of the male is so bright and attractive that you begin to doubt whether such a toy was really created without human intervention, and Nature is its only creator? It is unknown who added the name “scarlet” to his name, which means “scarlet” in English, but this epithet suits him like no other.
The proportions of the scarlet are close to those of its taller brethren, but its body is significantly shorter. The dorsal fin extends along the entire back. All fins, except the ventral ones, are rounded. In males, the dorsal and anal fins, when deployed, are almost the same height as the body. The head is small, the mouth is small, the eyes are large.

The color of the male is bright, dominated by red tones. Eight scarlet vertical stripes run along the silvery-bluish body; the scales are relatively large, and each has a dark edge, which creates the impression of an oblique “mesh” on the body. On the scarlet muzzle there is a vague pattern of two blackish stripes passing through the eye (this pattern is more expressive in the female). All fins, except the colorless pectorals, are bright scarlet. The dorsal and anal edges are edged with a light blue field. The rays of these fins and the tail are blue at the base. Pelvic fins males are greatly enlarged and pointed. Their front rays are blue-white, followed by a dark blue, almost black, stripe, and their back soft part is bright scarlet.

The female is painted, as usual, much simpler. On the grayish-green body there are the same eight stripes, but they are simply dark and do not reach the bottom. There are reddish areas on the stomach. The fins are small, with dark rays. The pelvic fins have a whitish stripe along the anterior margin. The abdomen of a female ready for spawning is angular in its posterior part, like that of female guppies. It can also be noted that in cross-section the female’s body is round, as if swollen on the sides.

Regarding the “chameleon-like” nature of the scarlet, it can be said that he, apparently, of all his relatives, is the least susceptible to this “vice”. The brightness of the color of males under stress (for example, being caught) and at night goes out relatively weakly. It appears that female scarlets change their color more radically.
It is regrettable that this badis is very small: the male does not even reach three centimeters,
and the female is even smaller (1.6-1.8 cm).

Scarlet came to Germany in 1999 through the famous importer of exotics - the company GLASER, and to us - only last year 2005, directly from Southeast Asia. It was received by the Novgorod fan of aquarium novelty G. Faminsky.
At first, these kids caused slight confusion for many who met them. At first they thought - badis is like badis, only “sp.”, i.e. something new and not yet known to official ichthyology. They received it and began to educate it: it doesn’t grow! What's the matter?

There have also been incidents when selling fish in pet stores. Let’s say that sellers were at first extremely reluctant to accept sales, and even then at least we tried not to give away to regular customers the specimens found in the batch of bright scarlets that had a pale, flesh-colored milky color. Without reliable information and not even assuming that with such a tiny size the fish were already completely determined by sex, the merchants had every reason to believe that these “ugly ducklings” were sick, for example, with dropsy and would die today or tomorrow. As a result, only males ended up in the collections of some aquarists.

And only those who had the opportunity to delve into foreign literature on relevant topics (in particular, these fish were described in the February 2000 issue of the German magazine “Das Aquarium”) or surf the Internet, found out in a timely manner that they could exceed the 2.5 mark see scarlet just can't.

Thanks to the kindness of G. Faminsky, I received eight badis, among which was one plump female. I temporarily placed the pair in a 25 liter soft water aquarium and began to think about how to achieve reproduction. It is known that the larger relatives of the scarlet, Badis badis, Badis badis burmanicus and Badis badis siamensis, familiar to the Russian aquarium hobby, spawn in shelters. I placed coconut shells, clay shards, some tubes on the bottom of the aquarium, and generously added dwarf bushes
Anubias (Anubias barteri var.nana). Coming home from work, I regularly looked into this aquarium, picked up the shells, but did not notice anything.

Here translations of articles by Axel Gutiyar (India) “On the color of Badis sp. “Scarlet” and caring for this fish” and Dieter Bork “First data on the reproduction of Badis sp. “Scarlet”, which also did not bring much clarity. Gutiyar was not involved in breeding, but Bork discovered eggs in one case under a fallen leaf, and in another, under a coconut shell. At the same time, the Moscow amateur A. Brinev, who also had scarlet badis, during the next cleaning of the aquarium where these fish were sitting, suddenly discovered larvae at different stages of development at the bottom. It was a surprise (A. Brinev, like me, saw scarlet badis only in the evenings). He immediately told me this news. I immediately examined the bottom of the container in which my badis were located and found the same picture: there were both larvae of different ages and fresh caviar! While I was planning to breed them, the fish themselves decided their fate.

Without delaying matters, I called G. Faminsky at Nizhny Novgorod and reported what was happening. As it turned out, he also unexpectedly discovered the offspring of the Badis.
And one Sunday morning I finally saw them spawning. Everything turned out to be very simple. The female, feeling that the eggs are already on the way out, stops two or three centimeters from the bottom or swims under the leaf of the dwarf anubias (there was no grate at the bottom).

The male immediately presses to the side, then bends and clasps her body from below (just like in cockerels, gouramis, laliuses and some other labyrinths).
After one or two seconds, a soft push follows, and the fish disperse, and it seems that the female loses spatial orientation for a moment, and then leaves the spawning site and hides.
The male swims out into the open and almost immediately begins to scour the aquarium in search of his girlfriend. Sometimes he finds her and begins to brutally chase her.

When the female is ready to spawn again, she herself comes out to the male, and everything is repeated, and this can be either under the same leaf or in a completely different place.
I personally have not seen it, but, according to the friendly statement of G. Faminsky and A. Brinev, the parents, although not very actively, feast on their eggs and larvae, so it is better to cover the bottom with a separator grid.

The eggs are transparent, colorless, small, very sticky and stick tightly to what they touch. Therefore, part of the eggs is found stuck to the bottom, and part - to the petioles, roots and leaves of the plant, under the cover of which spawning took place. If it was necessary to select several eggs (for example, to make it convenient to observe their development), I had to sweep them from the bottom with a core brush - a stream of water from the pear could not remove them from the place of attachment.

Eggs are laid a little every day in the morning, and the entire spawning lasts an hour and a half. Because of this, an amateur who is busy in the morning is unable to witness the act of spawning. The fish spend the rest of the day quietly, and in the evening they peacefully “lay down” to sleep side by side on the bottom somewhere in the corner, just not huddled together.

It has been reported that the water in the scarlet's homeland (the Brahmaputra basin in the Indian state of Assam and the northern part of West Bengal) is neutral and very soft. The air temperature in summer reaches 30°C, and in winter it drops to 10°C. What temperature fluctuations occur in water during these periods have not been observed.

At first, with this in mind, I planted the scarlets in soft water (dGH 3°, pH 6.5) for spawning. Later it turned out that fertilization and development of eggs normally occurs in harder water (in my experiments up to dGH 8°). Spawnings took place at a temperature of 26-28°C. The first spawning took place in a 25-liter aquarium. Later I planted the same pair in both 15- and 10-liter containers. The result in all cases was positive.

For spawning, fish choose some kind of shelter, a “roof,” although they do not always strictly follow this. Some acts of spawning also occur on open place. There is more caviar at first, but in subsequent days its quantity decreases. My superficial calculations showed that with a ten-day cycle, on average, 6-8 eggs were laid daily (I will explain what this cycle is below). “Accounting” is also complicated by the fact that the caviar is glued anywhere.

The development cycle, as it seems to me, has the following rhythm.
Hatching occurs after about two days. More exact time I could not determine the development, since with constant replenishment it seemed difficult to select freshly laid eggs. The larva, freed from the shell, does not swim away anywhere; it lies on its side where it hatched. It has a barely visible color in the form of thin vertical dark stripes.

The moment of spreading is also difficult to determine. The fry, again, does not swim away anywhere, but, remaining motionless in the same place, simply rolls over on its stomach and begins to slowly feed, grabbing the dusty food that appears under its nose. This phase occurs after about a week. Next to him may be his younger and older relatives at all stages of development.
All these observations become possible if spawning occurs in a so-called hygienic aquarium, where there is no soil, otherwise the extremely sedentary and even camouflaged fry will be invisible to the amateur for a long time.

Babies are very modest in size, so I used homemade ciliates as the first food. Focusing on the elders, after another week he began to add a small portion of Artemia auplii, continuing to abundantly fill the water with ciliates. After about ten days the fry begin to
They can move around little by little. At this time, it is best to transplant the parents into a new spawning tank (if, of course, you are inclined to continue this process).

After 4 weeks, the fry become similar to females, and after another month, the coloring begins to reveal males. At the same time, growth retardation in females can be noticed. And although kids (as well as adult fish) are ready to constantly feed on brine shrimp, it is better to expand their diet as they grow up to include pond crustaceans, cut tubifex, small bloodworms, co-retra, etc. Teenagers also do not refuse frozen food. But like adults, they do not eat flake dry food. True, the Aquarien Atlas published by MERGUS states that scarlets can get used to small granular artificial food. I haven't checked this myself.

After being transplanted into a new aquarium, the fish spend some, albeit short, time settling in and resting, and then continue their almost daily spawnings.
Fry of different ages can be combined in a nursery aquarium without any fear, as long as they are of an age suitable for movement. It is better to do this when they have confidently switched from the starter feed to a larger one, so that both old and young can be successfully fed with one type of feed.

During the rearing process, I discovered that the fry really enjoyed the abundance of Java moss. They literally spread throughout it and in such an environment they probably feel completely safe.
Fry and teenagers are sedentary and not shy. They grow, especially at first, rather slowly, although, if you look at them, given their small growth, there is really no need to rush. IN good conditions By the end of the fourth month of development, females “exceed” 1 cm in length, and males - 2 cm and are already beginning to reproduce.

It is better to keep adult individuals in a species aquarium - they do not tolerate the presence of other fish, even small ones. In a densely planted aquarium with “clearings” they do not hide and are not afraid when a person approaches.

Males distribute small territories (“reveres”) among themselves and guard them. Females move carefully, as if with apprehension, since their appearance on the male’s territory is perceived by the latter as a marriage proposal, and after refusing to develop “ family relations“Beatings often follow. The exception is feeding time, when the border regime is relaxed. The fish feed at the bottom and in the middle layers of water. They rise to the surface rarely and for a short time: having grabbed prey, they immediately dive to the bottom. However, in a small container and with a lack of plants, females are forced to hide near the surface from the pursuit of males, who can be very harsh and persistent in their harassment.

It can be noted that fish have a high tolerance to the presence of nitrites in water. Of course, you can’t keep them in this poison for a long time, but for some time (until the aquarist comes to his senses) the scarlets endure.
In conclusion, I would like to inform you that the revision in taxonomy, which is constantly ongoing in ichthyology, has also affected our badis. After research carried out by ichthyologists Kullandcr and Britz in 2002, scarlets (and two other related species) were allocated to a special genus Dario, the main feature of which was their dwarf size (less than 25 millimeters). Thus, in modern literature on aquarium science there are, as they say, “on equal terms” at least three names for our baby: Badis sp. "Scarlet", Badis badis bengalensis and Dario dario.

Aquarium Magazine 2006 No. 1

Despite the fact that small badis-badis fish are relatively unpretentious, they can rarely be found in our domestic aquariums. Perhaps this is due to the lack of awareness of many aquatic fauna lovers. Let's try to fill this knowledge gap.

Nickname "chameleon" little freshwater fish received because of its ability to change color under the influence external conditions. It can change its color from orange to dark blue and even purple.

Metallic shades are often present in the color. This quality allows the aquatic animal to adapt to the basic color of the natural aquatic environment and objects located in the bottom layer.

• The fish is small in size: from 6 to 8 cm long.
• The body of individuals is oval, flattened on the sides, the line of the body smoothly passes into the head with small black eyes and a small mouth.
• The dorsal fin is dense, long and rather high; it stretches along the entire back, only slightly short of the tail.
• The pectoral fins are small but powerful.
• The fish's tail has a semicircular fan-shaped shape, which helps the “chameleon” move quickly.

The sexual characteristics of individuals of the species are expressed quite clearly.

Females are much paler than males, their fins are transparent, and in males they are colored to match the color of the body. In addition, females are slightly smaller than their partners.

Conditions of the natural biotope

Badis-badis are Asian fish that are found in fresh water bodies of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Thailand.

They prefer shallow, slow-flowing rivers or lakes with a muddy bottom covered with fallen leaves, snags, and flooded trees. It is these objects that chameleon fish mimic.

This property allows them to successfully hunt smaller animals. Yes, badis are carnivorous representatives of Asian aquatic fauna, they eat everything they can swallow: worms, snails and tiny crustaceans, larvae, aquatic insects and other natural zooplankton.

According to scientific classification, fish belongs to small family Badidae, which includes about 30 species of badis. Among them there are several particularly notable representatives:

• Burmese badis (lat. Badis burmanicus),
• Siamese (lat. Badis siamensis),
• simple Badis badis.

The primary difference between individuals of these species is only in color.

The name Badis itself, experts believe, comes from the Latin term badius, which translated into Russian means “chestnut”.

In general, this is a rather rare fish, living in small schools (one male and several females, as a rule). That is why, for the needs of aquarium hobby, such Asian aquatic chameleons are bred in special nurseries.

Chameleon fish in an aquarium

Badis are considered unpretentious when living in captivity. In principle, even a novice aquarist can successfully keep them. Since the fish is small in size, it can even live in a nano-aquarium (unless, of course, you plan to keep other aquatic ornamental animals).

Alone, the “chameleon” is unlikely to have any fun, but in the company of 2-3 females he will feel great. Therefore, for such a flock you need an aquarium with a capacity of 40 liters or more. Naturally, you need to maintain the appropriate parameters fresh water, namely:

• temperature from +15 to +25 °C;
• hardness: from 3 to 15 °dH;
• The pH balance is either neutral, or with a slight shift towards acidity - 6.0-7.5 pH.

The bottom of the aquarium should be decorated with driftwood, convex fragments of clay cups or pots, small stone grottoes, and coconut shells.

All of the items listed will be places suitable for subsequent spawning.

Chameleon fish don't like bright light, so floating plants can be placed on the surface of the aquarium to provide partial shading. If there is no vegetation, then the light should be dimmed.

A necessary condition of detention. It is also necessary to organize moderate aeration and weekly water changes in the amount of ¼ of the total amount. It should also be thoroughly cleaned of any remaining fish waste about once every 2 weeks.

Feeding

In nurseries, they try, of course, to accustom chameleon fish to dry food, but they still prefer live food: worms, daphnia, and coretra. However, dry commercial food can also be included in this diet. Tubifex or bloodworms can also be given, but they must be washed well to avoid stomach diseases.

Yes, if the aquarium contains cherry shrimp and “chameleons” are released into it, then you can say goodbye to shrimp forever. They will be quickly eaten.

Compatibility

Many experienced badis owners strongly recommend keeping these “Asians” in species aquariums. This circumstance is associated with increased aggression of males during the spawning period.

However, if the aquarium is large enough and has room for its own territory, then Badis can get along quite well with ornamental fish of approximately the same size.

Exists positive experience coexistence of badis with small catfish, some characins.

Reproduction

It is also possible in a community aquarium. Spawning is usually stimulated by slightly increasing the water temperature (to about 28–29 °C).

Before spawning, the males become more aggressive; they mark the territory where the female will then spawn.

The female lays about 100 tiny eggs in some shelter, after which her role ends. The male gets down to business, not only vigilantly guarding the clutch, but also fanning the eggs with his powerful fins.

The fry hatch after 2–3 days, and after another 4–5 days they begin to actively swim. It is at this time that the fry (or, conversely, adults) must be removed. Otherwise, the cubs may become live food. The starting food for juveniles is usually brine shrimp and microworms.

Chameleon fish deserve to take their rightful place in the domestic aquarium hobby. Bright and lively, they can decorate any home aquarium.

Nature has a lot of amazing things in store. Like, for example, this scarlet badis fish, which was not touched by the hand of the breeder. Red badis is a bright and rare guest in modern aquariums, as they only recently learned about this fish.

Habitat

Badis lives in India in clean streams, the bottom of which is covered with sand and often densely overgrown with plants. The water there is very soft and has a neutral reaction. In summer it can warm up to 30⁰C under the hot sun, and in winter it can cool down to 10⁰C.

Size

Red badis is a very small fish, males do not grow more than 2.5 cm, and females are even smaller.

Color

As often happens, all the admiring sighs of aquarists go to the males. Bright scarlet vertical stripes are superimposed on the silvery shiny body, and two more thin black strokes pass through the eye. The scales of the badis are quite large and each of them has a dark border, which creates an artistic oblique “mesh” on the body of the fish. The fins are also painted bright red, the dorsal and anal are edged with a thin light blue stripe. The same color highlights the rays of the fins, making them voluminous and shiny. Females are grayish-green; you can also see transverse stripes on their body, which are shorter than those of males and do not have an attractive scarlet color. Sometimes females have a slightly red tummy. The fins are transparent or gray, as if covered in haze, as are the eight stripes on the body.

Body Shape

The fish has an oblong body with a small head and a neat mouth, with large eyes. All fins of the badis are rounded, except for the pointed pectorals. The dorsal fin is long, and in males it is also wide - if the badis straightens it, the fin will be the same size as the entire body of the fish. Males have large pectoral fins, with slightly protruding first rays. Females have smaller fins. Before spawning, their abdomen enlarges and is rounded at the rear.

Badis is suspicious and wary of its neighbors, so it is better to keep these fish in a species aquarium in a group in which females predominate. If you really want variety, add small characins or other small peaceful fish that will not claim a separate and permanent territory to the badis. They will also like a space densely planted with plants; the fish will feel comfortable and will no longer be afraid of their imaginary dangers. Males divide the territory of the aquarium into small zones, which they protect. The appearance of a female in this space is considered a marriage proposal, so in small aquarium A female who accidentally swims “into the house” of a male and refuses him can get a scolding. These fish stay in the middle and lower layers of water and rise to the surface only for a very short time to feed. Badis do not live and delight the aquarist for long, about a year.

Requirements

Temperature 24-26ºC, water can be soft or medium hard (10-20ºdGH). Some aquarists believe that these fish spawn better in slightly harder water. Despite their small size, badis are predators, so it is better to feed them with small live or special dry food. One male and two females need at least 10 liters of water. The fish are hardy and unpretentious, so they can be recommended to beginners.

Breeding

These fish spawn successfully in a general aquarium, but if you wish, you can put the sweet couple in a spawning tank. When the female is ready, she swims under a leaf or pot, where the male quickly finds her. He “hugs” the female from below in the same way as gouramis and other labyrinths do. At this time, the female sheds eggs, which are immediately fertilized. After a few seconds, everything ends, the fish disperse, and none of the parents remains at the spawning site. Later this process is repeated, and during breaks the male can pursue and even offend the female. By the way, re-laying can occur under a completely different leaf or even in an open place. Spawning usually occurs in the morning, the female lays a little eggs every day, so it can be difficult for an aquarist to catch the process itself, as well as to notice small eggs. The female lays the most eggs on the first day, then the number gradually decreases. These fish can eat their offspring, although not very actively, so it is better to put a special protective net on the bottom of the spawning tank. In a community aquarium, the fry are saved by Java moss. Badis eggs are very small, colorless, transparent and stick tightly to the substrate, leaf or soil - in general, wherever they land, they will remain there until full maturity; it will be very difficult to move them. The almost colorless transparent larvae hatch approximately on the second day and simply lie on their sides for some time. A little later, the fry turn over on their tummy, but are also in no hurry to swim, feeding on what floats right in front of their noses. The babies are fed first with live dust, ciliates, then Artemia naupilii and dry powder food especially for fry. Only after 9-10 days the offspring of the scarlet badis begin to swim a little. Sexual maturity is reached at the age of 4-5 months.

Badis live in stagnant waters of India. This fish was first brought from India to Europe in 1905. Description of Badis - Badis
Males range in size from 10 cm, their body can change color, it all depends on environmental conditions. The fins of males are more beautiful and larger than those of females. Females do not have a very convex belly. Due to the change in their color, they were given the name – Chameleon Fish. Contents Badis - Badisa
The fish themselves are peaceful, they lead a secretive lifestyle, so you need to make a lot of shelters in the aquarium, which are rich and densely planted with greenery, where they could hide. Lighting should be diffused, not bright.
Breeding Badis – Badis
To breed Badis, you need a 20-liter aquarium, which is densely planted with crops, put a pot or stone in it. Lighting should be dim. Water must meet the following parameters: - temperature 26 degrees, - pH 6.5. Only a couple of breeders are released into the aquarium. Some males begin to build holes in the sand before spawning. Spawning will occur either in a pot or on a rock. Males become aggressive defending their territory. The male takes care of the eggs. Immediately after spawning has occurred, the female is removed. The larvae appear within 2 days. After 7 days, the fry can be fed with Artemia larvae. This type of fish is highly prolific and can be bred continuously. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=l318GjYbKbQ Feeding Badis - Badis
Most suitable fish for Badis is a live food, suitable for feeding tubifex or aquatic insect larvae.

From

There are aquarists who do not give in to fashion trends and forever remain adherents of not very popular fish. These fish include the very rare Badis badis. This fish is better known as the dwarf chameleon. The fish is very peaceful, males reach a length of about 8 cm, and females are almost half as long - 4.5 cm. The habitat of the fish is from India and all the way to Southeast Asia in its western regions.
The difference between the sexes can be distinguished in immature badis even at early stage development. Before feeding, males can be distinguished by their retracted abdomens; females, on the contrary, are more rounded, not so brightly colored, and their anal and dorsal fins are not pointed like those of males. If two immature badis are placed in a 20-liter aquarium, it will soon become clear that keeping two males in this small container is fraught with significant problems. At first, their behavior will be of an interesting, one might even say competitive nature, but even with many hiding places, the strongest dominant male quickly begins to pursue and oppress his opponent. The result of constant stressful situation may result in the death of the weakest male. But in a spacious aquarium with big amount In shelters, several pairs can coexist completely without conflict.

If you want to take a closer look at the life of these secretive creatures in a well-equipped aquarium, try to keep the plants from growing to the front glass and the hiding places not very deep. Dense plants and small grottoes give the badis a feeling of complete security, and also do not allow them to completely hide from view, which is naturally characteristic of these fish.
While females are constantly exploring the aquarium, males very quickly designate their small territory near some shelter and leave it unattended only when it is necessary to find food. Feeding badis in large aquariums that they share with nimble fish, such as rasboras or tetras, is not simple task. For very slow badis, only live food or frozen bloodworms are needed.
V. badis is undemanding to water quality and can even spawn with a hardness of about 20°, but it feels much better in water filtered through peat with a slightly acidic or neutral reaction. This water composition should be used in a spawning aquarium. Badis reacts to a greater extent to water temperature indicators. For simple maintenance, the temperature should be about 24-27°C, but during the spawning period it is advisable to raise it to 28°C.

In badis, spawning occurs approximately in the same way as in labyrinth fish. It is advisable to remove the female from a small spawning aquarium immediately, since the male guards the eggs himself and simply cannot tolerate the presence of the female. But in general, males do not take much care of the offspring, as many cichlids and labyrinth fish do, cleaning the eggs in their mouths or turning them over.
The parental care of the male badis is manifested only in the fact that he hovers over the eggs and ventilates them with his fins. If the water temperature in the aquarium remains stable at 27-28°C, the larvae begin to swim freely after six days. At first, they need live and very small food, preferably rotifers, but good results can be achieved by feeding paramecium very often, but in moderate volumes at each meal.
In the process of transitioning to feeding on Artemia nauplii, the fry quite often die, and this happens unnoticed. It is during this period, that is, approximately 3-4 weeks, that the young Badis are apparently very pampered. If you feed them Cyclops nauplii, then the losses in this case are very large, but with a decrease in food portions, some badis can survive, but later attack the fry of their own brood.
Having overcome this difficult stage, the growth of the badis begins to proceed very quickly and smoothly, but then it slows down to some extent, and it seems that the fish have stopped developing altogether. But as soon as immature individuals are divided into pairs, they begin to grow rapidly again, this is especially noticeable in males. If the brood is left completely in the aquarium, then, depending on the capacity of the aquarium itself, only some, stronger males who have allocated their territory develop normally.