Nano Fish from the Genus Boraras Vol 1 Boraras naevus and Boraras micros

Hello and welcome to my channel. You have probably noticed that I like a lot nano fish and the shrimp of course. I focus on these animals because I really am into them, I really like them. So I would like to give you here a short introduction of the genus Boraras that we will talk in the probably next three series. I will make a longer series at the moment. I have all six of the species. So in this genus Boraras are six species and they have been placed in the genus Rasbora before. That's why probably the common names that they still have have to do a lot with Rasbora. So there's Boraras Brigittai, the Chile Rasbora or Mosquito Rasbora, Boraras Maculatus, Dwarf Rasbora, Boraras Mera, Phoenix Rasbora, Boraras Micros. I have not found any common name. If you know about a common name please let me know in the comments. So probably Micros Rasbora. That would be something that fit to this species. Boraras Naivus, the Strawberry Rasbora and Boraras Urofthalmoides. And that has the common name Least Rasbora or exclamation point Rasbora. That's pretty weird. But okay, accept it. So on Wikipedia they say that the relation between this genus and Rasbora and probably within the genus is not clear. But what I could read out of the first descriptions of the species and the people who are really into this, they say it's pretty clear. So genetics and morphology are clearly stated that this is a different genus and these fish, these six species belong to this genus, are different from the Rasbora. So these small freshwater fish live in Asia and are distributed from Borneo to Sumatra and Malaysia to Thailand and Cambodia, where they live in groups or bigger groups in smaller ponds, ditches. And as you can see, here I have the habitat. And with permission of Discovery Planet, Yosuke Kobayashi, he gave me permission to use these short sequences. And it's very important if you keep fish to look at the habitat. This is something that I always say. Look at the habitat, look how the fish live, and then you probably also will know how to keep them. So check out Yosuke Kobayashi. He does great stuff about Asia, Southeast Asia. Very good channel, I really like it. And the other thing is, hey, if you want to subscribe, you will subscribe and you will like the video, and I will not beg for this, because usually when I go to YouTube and YouTuber ask me, you have to subscribe, you have to like the video, comment and all that. No, if you like it, you will do it. If not, you will not do it. Just watch the video, and if you find it interesting and can learn something, more than happy with that. And you also have probably noticed that I usually use the Latin names of these fish in general, of all my aquarium pets that I have, like the crayfish, shrimp and fish. I use the Latin words because the common names are not so much my thing. So we will talk about Boraras naivus today, the strawberry rasbora, and later on I will also present you Boraras micros. That's the smallest fish in this genus. And Boraras naivus is distributed in Thailand, and there it is, the type locality is Surat Thani, in the Surat Thani province. It's a swamp east of, road north of Empoe, Tachana. That's like 83 kilometers before Surat Thani, on the road from Lang Suang. This is what Mr. Kotelat put as the type locality of the holotype. So now you know it exactly. If you really want to go there and check it out, do it. I will go there also because I would like to see all these nano fish that I keep in the habitat. I've seen some of it, but for example here of the strawberry rasbora, I have not seen the habitat. I just read it in the first description. So all of the habitats of the Boraras genus are very, very similar. And another thing that I pay attention on is from where I get my fish. And lucky me, I have a wholesaler friend who has a wholesale, and he is specialized on the genus Boraras rasbora zunda danio. And this is very important if you want to keep this fish from where you get them. Because, for example, this guy, his name is Herbert Niedl from Aquarium Dietzenbach. When he gets them, he puts them also in black water. Because if they come from black water, you know that the bacteria density is not that big because of the pH of 5, 5.5. There's not that much bacteria like in a normal swamp or ditch. So these fish find similar conditions like in their habitat. Because if you put them in normal water, they cannot deal with that. And I have seen wholesalers that lose a lot of the fish, and then they resell them. And again, in the pet shop, they will lose a lot. But not with Herbert from Dietzenbach, because he really pays attention on that. And you can see it easily in the genus zunda danio. And I have them here also in a tank, and they are doing perfectly fine. But others have big problems with that. And then they come to the pet shops, they don't resist, and they just die. So here, very important from who you get your fish. And lucky also, we are connected with Zierfische.de. That's a web page where we sell fish. So we have a good wholesaler, and I consider this essential. Because this transition, it makes a big impact on the fish. We have to be clear about that. So especially with the boraras, this is something that I really take care of. And when they come to my place, slowly I transfer them to clearer water, and I have not lost one fish. And I have like 30 of them, and they're all doing fine. So that's an important thing. Slowly transfer them to clear water, because I like to keep them in clear water. And as you have seen in the habitat, in this special place, the water was also not that dark. So with these guys, and they're doing perfectly fine. They're in a very good shape, all healthy, all good. If it comes to size, these are really tiny fish. We're talking about 1.5 centimeters, that's 0.5 inch for the males. And about 2 centimeters for the females, that's 0.7 inch. Am I right? If we are talking temperature, it's from 22 Celsius to 28 usually. And that's in Fahrenheit about 71 to 82. And also because, of course, the temperature outside is very warm. But because of those trees that are around these creeks or ponds usually, the temperature don't get that high. So for the pH is from 5.5 to 6.8 in the habitat. But I have them like with 7.2 or 3, because in my region I have very soft water, and I don't do anything for put a pH lower. I just use the tap water. And like I explained that before, if you slowly but surely adjust them to your water parameters, they will probably do well as well. So and about the aquarium size, I had them in a bigger tank, like 800 liters, so a really big tank. And in my opinion, they didn't feel well at all. The aquarium was much too big. They just have been hiding under the roots and in the corner. And now I have them in a smaller tank. And in my opinion, they do much better. The aquarium is densely planted. I mean, there's a lot of plants in there. The soil on the ground, of course, if you use soil, it's dark. And I use dark soil, like the typical shrimp soil. And I feel that in this small aquarium, the males show much better colors. And they hide, but they also show up. So it's like a game between hiding and showing up, especially when I feed them. So you have probably noticed that some of them are really nicely colored, show a lot of red, this bluish black blotch in the middle of the body. And these are the males. Usually they are more colorful than the females. And sometimes some of them have a lot of red and this big blotch in the middle of the body. While the females, they are rounder bellied, bigger, and less intensively colored than the males. And sometimes you see also females that have like orange around this black bluish spot in the middle of the body. But yeah, they can differ in color. Some don't have it, some have it. Like this female, you have to look twice at the fish like this to see if it's a male or female. But usually the size and this rounder belly will tell you if it's a female. That was a female, for example, as well as this one. They're both females, but with a good coloration. So like the other Borara species also, they probably are micropredators feeding on small insects, worms, tiny crystocines, or probably a lot of zooplankton. And this is in nature. In my aquarium, I feed them from time to time bloodworms and tubifex, also little worms. But most of the time I feed them dry food. So once a week or twice a week, they will receive live food. And that's why they have also these beautiful colors, because I change the diet from time to time. But then also I feed small nano food from Natureholic. The chrysantholis, you know, Oliver Knott and me have a food series out that's called chrysantholis. And there we have some really good food that I feed them. And for me, it's very important that the fish show up good colors. Because if I want to photograph them or like film them, like in this case, they need to be nice. And they need to be great in shape. So I believe that the food, together with the water parameters, the light, the temperature, and all that, makes them feel really well and show these beautiful colors. And this is what it's about. And also I could see that there's another species in the tank, another Boraras species, Boraras Mira. I have an aquarium sitting next to this tank that has the other species. And I think he jumped over to this aquarium. Like you see here on the right side, you see the difference also between the two species, Boraras Mira. And yeah, they have similar parameters. So I have all the species lined up in one row, the six Boraras species. So I really enjoy them together. And what is really interesting about these tiny fish is that they can reach an age of about 10 years, 7 to 10 years. And if you want to breed them, I would recommend to set up a separate tank for them with a lot of leaves, with about 20, 30 centimeters, the water level, so not too high. And then make a lot of water changes with the right water. That means a low pH, very soft water. And then the parents will lay their eggs, but they will just scatter them everywhere. They will not do any parental care. And if they find the eggs, they will eat them. They will not go after the fry. And once the fry hatches, they will survive about 24 hours on their yolk sacs. And then they require some microscopic food. I usually smash the nano food and then give it to the really, really tiny fish. And it works pretty well. You can also give them Artemia, Nauplii, Microworms, and yeah. And if they are a little bit bigger, I would say like 0.5 centimeters, you can add them to the adults. And then there is Boraras Micros. And like I told you, I have not found a common name. If you know anything about that, please let me know in the comments. And this is a really tiny fish. It belongs to the most tiny fish on the planet with 1.5 centimeters. That's the adult size. And this fish don't show up any special colors. It's just gray with the black spots on the body. And sometimes if it goes a little bit to the side, you can see a little bluish from the scales. But that's it. And I keep them together with Sundaedonio axelrodi because they are also very hard to feed. Like Sundaedonio axelrodi, they just take little tiny powder food or nano food, but only the one that swims in the water. They will not go to the surface, or rarely I've seen them on the surface and also not on the ground. So they are perfectly for raising shrimp with them. And I think it's a great nano fish. Even if they don't show up any great colors, I really like them. And I have all six of the Boraras in my aquariums. So everything I told you about Boraras naivus also fits for this species. It's just that they have a different distribution. They live in the same or similar habitat. Not in the same one, but similar. Have similar water parameters, similar temperature, pH, and so on. And these guys are restricted to parts of the Mekong Basin in northeastern Thailand. So that is mainly the difference. So this was the first part. I don't want to make the video too long, because I know that you guys don't have the patience to watch a video for one hour. And there will be a second and a third part showing you or presenting you the other four species. Have fun. I see you at the next video.