# Other Aquarium Forums > Freshwater Fauna > Cyprinids >  Danio margaritatus (Galaxy Rasbora/Celestial Pearl Danio)

## d2sign

A bit regret to bought them after knowing they are under threat. Any galaxy owner kind to share your experience? What's their habit like, diet? If can, share your pic and your setup here please... Will post mine when I able to see them as they hiding most of the time when I try to walk closer.

Found a few successful cases to bred them:
http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/...ra_Galaxy.html 
http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~domestic/hanabi.htm (Japanese)
http://www.aquaristikecke.de/Haltung...garitatus.html (Deutsch)

* Can use google translate the whole page

Please stop buying them until they are successfully breed in large amount commercially. Cheers!

Share some pic I found online. Source: http://www.aquaristikecke.de/

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## Quixotic

There was a recent revision on the taxanomy of the fish and they have been reassigned to the genus Danio. 

Some previous threads,
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=23742
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=36676
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=27200

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## EvolutionZ

they are very beautiful fishes..
they are rather easy to keep as well..but for me, i find them way too shy.. you get close too the tank, it goes into hiding.

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## hwchoy

it depends on which school you subscribe to. having personally knowing the scientist and a glimpse of his fanatical working methods, and also a poll of the opinion of some of the taxnomists I know, and of course a critical reading of the revision paper (as much as a layman could, at any rate), I am not inclined to go with the revision. It is still _Celestichthys margaritatus_ in my books. bearing in mind the original describer is a scientist who prefer to err on the side of caution, and did not assign _Microrasbora erythromicron_ into the new genus.

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## Quixotic

Thanks Choy on the insight.




> ...having personally knowing the scientist and a glimpse of his fanatical working methods...


I take it the scientist you are referring here is Tyson Roberts, and not Kevin Conway et al. right? Because those who aren't aware could have read the sentence both ways.  :Razz:

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## hwchoy

yes yes I meant Tyson  :Smile:  he was visiting NUS/RMBR during the time he was working on _Celestichthys margaritatus_ and I had the pleasure to actually look at the hundreds of stained and preserved specimens (yes bro, hundreds of dead galaxy rasbora). he even showed me an interesting bone structure in the fish which resembles the Death Star in Star Wars  :Grin: 

I also had a discussion with him about the colour patterns (spots) and how spots are not so different from stripes and bars. I had read about a series of studies of how the chromatophores develop and migrate in Danio fishes to create all the various patterns we see. He was not aware of that study and he actually got in touch with those scientists to understand more about the process. He was very definitely aware of the colour and pattern structures and development in Danio fishes.

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## hwchoy

by the way Tyson actually told me the reason he did not reassign _Microrasbora erythromicron_ to _Celestichthys_. simply, he did not have enough specimens and time to do the necessary proper research to warrant such a major reassignment.

we did discussed how closely both fishes resemble each other, including the hump shape of the dorsal surface, even though one had bar and the other had spots. that was when I mentioned the chromatophore study papers.

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## torque6

we do know they are under threat some time back, but just last week i saw polyart have a glass full of them. So not sure if those are farm breed or wild caught.

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## Panut

I saw in polyart too. I think they are wild caught, given the sunken bellies (due to transport?)

Anyway, they are are living in hell, so many in a tinyyyy tank!  :Crying: 

i hate these LFSes. profit profit profit. Sucks big time.

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## d2sign

Those I bought was the last few... See them so so skinny but still couldn't resist their beautiful and unique texture.

Thanks everyone for the info, any owner kind to share some tips on taking care of these beautiful fishes?

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## Quixotic

> yes yes I meant Tyson  he was visiting NUS/RMBR during the time he was working on _Celestichthys margaritatus_ and I had the pleasure to actually look at the hundreds of stained and preserved specimens (yes bro, hundreds of dead galaxy rasbora). he even showed me an interesting bone structure in the fish which resembles the Death Star in Star Wars


Wow, hundreds of them? That is A LOT of specimens. For such studies, you don't actually need hundreds of them, right? No wonder you mentioned fanatical. I'll go re-read the Tyson and Conway papers.  :Razz: 




> I also had a discussion with him about the colour patterns (spots) and how spots are not so different from stripes and bars. I had read about a series of studies of how the chromatophores develop and migrate in Danio fishes to create all the various patterns we see. He was not aware of that study and he actually got in touch with those scientists to understand more about the process. He was very definitely aware of the colour and pattern structures and development in Danio fishes.


Hmm... interesting information about the chromatophores. Do the development and migration happen in progressive phases (i.e. as they grow older), or depending on certain external/internal conditions? Is the chromatophore development applicable to other fishes besides _Danio_ as well?

Now you've got me curious. What is this paper on the chromatophores? If you could, can I request for a copy to be dropped to my mailbox? Many thanks.

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## hwchoy

yes they were in a large tray and he was presumably going to sort through them.

You can see the title of the papers in the references cited, under Parichy and Quigley. Tyson made me an acknowledgement, which was a surprise and a very nice gesture. send me your email and I will pop the papers over.

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## Shadow

Just wondering does this Tyson and Conway papers are publicly available? So that common people like my self able to download and read it.




> they are very beautiful fishes..
> they are rather easy to keep as well..but for me, i find them way too shy.. you get close too the tank, it goes into hiding.


Mine was previously shy but after I put 15 Trigonostigma espei in the same tank, they end up schooling together. Interesting, I guess that was the trick  :Grin:

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## Panut

Yes, mine's more brave when there are other fishes around, and super super super shy when there are no other types of fishes.  :Sad:

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## hwchoy

> Just wondering does this Tyson and Conway papers are publicly available? So that common people like my self able to download and read it.


most of us here are all "common" people, althought there is a couple of systematists/taxnomists lurking around.


Explore the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology archive: http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/index.php

The Roberts paper The Celestial Pearl Danio, a new genus and species of colourful minute cyprinid fish from Myanmar (Pisces: Cypriniformes). Tyson R. Roberts. Pp. 131-140 is here http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/rbz/biblio/55/55rbz131-140.pdf

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## hwchoy

and here is the Conway paper:

The “Celestial Pearl danio” is a miniature Danio (s.s) (Ostariophysi: Cyprinidae): evidence from morphology and molecules
KEVIN W. CONWAY, WEI-JEN CHEN & RICHARD L. MAYDEN

http://wjchen.actinops.googlepages.c...yetal.2008.pdf

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## hwchoy

> Now you've got me curious. What is this paper on the chromatophores? If you could, can I request for a copy to be dropped to my mailbox? Many thanks.


here, there are lots of papers on the subject of pigmentation and pattern development by David Parichy.

http://protist.biology.washington.ed...blications.htm

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## hwchoy

and this is particularly interesting to read: Zebrafish in the Field and features Andrew Rao who so kindly sent me many new and rare specimens from India.

http://protist.biology.washington.ed...202007comp.pdf

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## d2sign

> Mine was previously shy but after I put 15 Trigonostigma espei in the same tank, they end up schooling together. Interesting, I guess that was the trick


That is interesting. I got 12 in a nano tank, will in be too crowded if intro a few Trigonostigma espei?

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## d2sign

Bought another 4 galaxies and 6 Harlequin Rasbora instead of Trigonostigma espei. As expected, all the galaxies are not as shy now, 20+ of them school together and fight for the food, cute! Enjoy looking at them now.

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## Panut

My favourite fish of all time. 
Handpicked all of mine, and now they are primed even more with a diet of spirulina tabs twice daily  :Laughing: 

cheers,

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## d2sign

I actually have a small problem here while feeding them. All 6 Harlequin Rasbora way faster than my galaxies and they eat non-stop even the stomach exploiting. Will try to get spirulina tabs hehe. 

Bro magic4lifez, ever try to breed your galaxies? Successful?

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## Panut

not yet. haven't set up an environment yet. once exams finish i will. Now busy priming them up first  :Laughing:  :Laughing: 

they really are my best fish haha  :Smile:

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## d2sign

Went to WuHu & Polyart today and all their galaxies was gone. Sad sad, usually will spend a lot of time just by look at them.

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## StanChung

I like this fish very much, but the quality found at LFS is not very good IMHO. A lot of skinny fellas with crooked spines. Read that these fellas were found in hard water? Anyone can confirm or is this a myth?

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## Quixotic

Reported on another forum, Tin Win of Hein Aquarium tested water samples sent by the local supplier. The test results show that pH is 7.3 and TDS is 245 microsiemens.

However, the parameters could have changed during transportation, or due to other factors. Therefore, this is just a reference point and not a confirmation.

They are believed to be found from hard water bodies, because of Lake Inle, where the water is alkaline, with high calcium content attributed to the limestone of Shan Plateau around the lake.

Fortunately, it isn't that important because the fish seems to have few problems in soft water, and even bred in the acidic condition as well.

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## StanChung

Hi,

A breeder friend bred them in soft water and he found them to have badly crooked spines as the grew. We theorized the soft water did not help provide enough calcium for bone development. It could also be the feed.

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## EvolutionZ

bought 10 piece of very healthy and big Galaxies from colourful today.
after releaseing into the tank.. surprised that they didn't hide.. now 10 of them schooling with 1 of my other lone boraras.

was wondering why many galaxies found in other LFS have badly sunken belly?

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## d2sign

Yep realize that too. Maybe they are still wild caught or from other countries who successful breed them. By the time import to here they quickly supply to lfs, due to their high demand, most of them will gone in week, they never have enough time to feed that why most of them slim like a supermodel.

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## Tony

Hi EvolutionZ,
Are those galaxy you bought as intense and red as the pics that  :drool 2: sign posted in the very start of the thread?

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## Tony

Hi EvolutionZ,
Are those galaxy you bought as intense and red as the pics that  :drool 2: sign posted in the very start of the thread?

I got mine from C328 for coming to 3 weeks and feed with TetraMin for small fishes once a day. So far their body has grown rounder and darker with orange strip on the fins; but a far cry from the pics that were posted in this thread. Any idea if it is poorer batch or the food issue or need to wait longer?

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## d2sign

Female galaxy are in orange strip, those in red strip are male.

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## Tony

Oops!! Looks like I've got all 8 females  :Sad:

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## Don90

Look at the anal fins of the fish.

usually the females are the ones with a dull coloured anal fin (sometimes colouless). And females also have a black spot above the anal fin.

_(Edit: All buy and sell activities should be posted in Marketplace, thanks!)_

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## EvolutionZ

yes, the males i got were red and nice.. they are bottom schoolers though..

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## Kristen

Bought mine from a fellow AQ-er as I was very hesitant to get them from the LFS. Like buying a bred puppy vs adopting from SPCA XD However, they are super shy... or maybe... they are afraid of the 4-limbed scary giant whose face peers through the glass. 

Just a simple question: Are they compatible with SAEs and White Cloud Mountain Minnows? My SAE likes to swim up into the school and disrupt them - not chasing or nipping, just being a bother really.

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## patricc

SAE and WCM shouldn't be a problem.... guess ur SAE is just being playful and checking them out. My SAE does that sometimes... 

When they are familiar with the tank areas, they will not hide so much already. But still sudden sounds and movements do send them scuttling for the nearest cover at times...

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## Don90

Hi kristen, the rasboras should have no problem with SAEs and white cloud minnows. I have kept them with tetras and apistos, no problem.

Are you planning to breed them?

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## Kristen

Lol well, if it happens, it happens... I put in a moss bed in there so we'll see how it goes.

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