# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna >  Boraras Brigittae owners' views and result

## Henlek

I have had my Brigittaes for about a week now in my rather heavily planted 2.5ft tank. They share the same tank with 12 other Boraras Uropthalmoides and some ottos. Fed all kinds of flakes, Hikari, frozen dalphnia, baby brine shrimps etc, I can see they are happy. 

Issue is, they are still not colouring up well despite good and regular feed, many plants and mossess to frolic with and no large fish threats. My Brigittaes are at most orangey, no intense red, some parts clear, some even darkening like going grey.

So how long do they take to colour up to red, Brigittae owners? For example, I really admire the intense colour of UA's Brigittaes (saw in the blog). UA, are you looking, how did you do it? Other owners, how about yours?

Also, I first bought 20 and I have about 10 left. Jumping out of my braceless one by one. I have gradual light dimmer so should not be light shock. Do other owners have this problem?

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## seudzar

I believe temperature and pH value will affect the colour. Need the experts to confirm this

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## Henlek

Oh yes, thanks for the reminder, I should have put some in details for examination:

PH: 5.8 to 6
Temp: 25c (by chiller)
KH: 3
GH: 4
TDS: 220

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## Urban Aquaria

For my boraras brigittae, they are currently kept in the following planted tank conditions:

Substrate: ADA New Amazonia Aquasoil
Co2 Injection: Yes
pH: 6.4-6.6 (when Co2 is off)
Temperature (Day): 29-30°C (No chiller or fans used)
kH : 1-2
GH: 5-6
TDS: 130-140

The specific water parameters don't seem to be much of an issue once the fishes acclimate to a tank though, i've kept them in low-tech bare bottom and sand based tanks with pH of 7.4-7.6 before and they still retain the red colors.

I guess the main factor was when i shopped for my fishes, i only specifically picked the best ones with the most red color in the LFS tank, i don't take the pale ones (which usually tend to be boraras merah mixed in together). So from the start the fishes i got already had the red color even in the LFS tank. This meant that i often walked out of a LFS with only 3-4 fishes in a small bag each time though, so i had to visit the various LFS over a span of time to gradually stock up my brigittae groups.

Quality food probably helps too i guess, i feed them mainly New Life Spectrum Thera+A Small Fish Formula (the one with garlic content)... that might have helped to maintain their colors too.

Perhaps you can post a photo of the fishes you got? If the tank conditions are good and they are fed well but they still don't color up after a week, maybe they are boraras merah instead? Merah look very similar to brigittae, just alot less color (mostly orangey to clear/greyish).

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## Henlek

Thank you for your inputs UA! I greatly admire your Brigittaes, so super red.

I agree they should acclimatise to most tank, unless extreme. So I should rule out my tank. I studied the Boraras species for like 3 months before setting out to buy so I specifically knew if they were the ones. I didn't have the luck to see any already red ones in LFS, but I could tell they were Brigittaes, for at least their vertical stripes extend to the tail, unlike the Merahs. Mine had all the correct markings although duller looking, and some vertical black stripes were broken, I'm quite sure they are not Merahs.


I going NOW to buy the food you mentioned, sounds too good to wait!!! I'll try Seaview first... where did you get it?

Later on I hope to take a decent picture of them, then everyone can see why I need help with their colours. Thank you!

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## Urban Aquaria

> I going NOW to buy the food you mentioned, sounds too good to wait!!! I'll try Seaview first... where did you get it?


I got the NLS food from C328, Polyart also has them too.




> Also, I first bought 20 and I have about 10 left. Jumping out of my braceless one by one. I have gradual light dimmer so should not be light shock. Do other owners have this problem?


From my experience so far, when they are newly introduced into a tank and the larger individuals start competing for dominance, there will usually be an increase in chasing and sometimes they might dart out the wrong direction and jump out of the tank.

Their effective jumping distance isn't very high though, i've found that if the gap between the water surface and the top edge of the tank is 3cm or more, it'll help prevent them from successfully jumping out. I've observed before a few getting chased around, then jump above the water surface, stick on the tank glass, then drop back into the water.  :Smile: 

After a while, the chasing and jumping will gradually decrease (sometimes my water levels are filled up higher after a water change, but none of them jump), i guess once the group hierarchy is established they'll tend to become more mellow.

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## Henlek

Sorry for the bad picture quality, here are some shots out of a point & shoot camera:







See they aren't as red as they should be...

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## Henlek

> I got the NLS food from C328, Polyart also has them too.
> 
> 
> 
> From my experience so far, when they are newly introduced into a tank and the larger individuals start competing for dominance, there will usually be an increase in chasing and sometimes they might dart out the wrong direction and jump out of the tank.
> 
> Their effective jumping distance isn't very high though, i've found that if the gap between the water surface and the top edge of the tank is 3cm or more, it'll help prevent them from successfully jumping out. I've observed before a few getting chased around, then jump above the water surface, stick on the tank glass, then drop back into the water. 
> 
> After a while, the chasing and jumping will gradually decrease (sometimes my water levels are filled up higher after a water change, but none of them jump), i guess once the group hierarchy is established they'll tend to become more mellow.


Thanks for this tip, hopefully they stop jumping as you have observed. Braceless tanks, with all the lily pipes and whatever really should remain open top, frustrating to loose fishes like this...

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## Urban Aquaria

Your fishes do look like brigittae, probably they just need abit more time to color up. 

They could also be juveniles, i noticed the smaller ones tend to have less color and then develop a deeper red color as they grow larger. You will also eventually have a few dominant males which will become very intense red though, so keep a look out for those soon.  :Smile:

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## TheAquarist

Mine jump till I was left with 5 ... From 10 :C

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## Suzerolt

I second the comment about New Life Spectrum Thera A bringing out the colors.

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## Henlek

> Your fishes do look like brigittae, probably they just need abit more time to color up. 
> 
> They could also be juveniles, i noticed the smaller ones tend to have less color and then develop a deeper red color as they grow larger. You will also eventually have a few dominant males which will become very intense red though, so keep a look out for those soon.


Thank you very much for the education, strive to mimic your results. I looked up your blog again just now, wow.... that is how RED is spelt.

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## Henlek

> I second the comment about New Life Spectrum Thera A bringing out the colors.


Wah man, got to get it!!! Went SunPets and Seaview just now, don't have, ah....

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## cosmico

Your fish will become redder in time. 


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## Henlek

> Your fish will become redder in time. 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks! Slightly better now, redder near the grills now, hopefully on their way.

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