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Chili Rasbora Care: Everything You Need To Know

The Chili Rasbora is a tiny, beautiful, tropical freshwater fish species that are active and easy to keep for beginners or seasoned fish keepers. These fish are never boring in their environments.

They can add some splash of color to even the most gloomy water tanks with their bright red colors. They can be a greater addition to your aquariums as they easily get along very well with other fish species. However, before you consider having one for yourself, it’ll be good to have a complete understanding of how to care for the aquatic vertebrate.

This Chili Rasbora guide becomes important to provide an insight into everything you need to know about the fish species care.

Species summary

Most fish keepers commonly refer to the fish as mosquito Rasbora, as they like habitats with many mosquitoes. The Chili Rasbora fish is a tiny, more colorful fish that thrives well in ponds with freshwaters. They have a colorful bright red color making them a nice addition to any aquarium. The fish belong to the species, Boraras brigittae.

Most of the fish species originate from the streams and slow-moving waters in Borneo, Indonesia. Their origin has made most fish keepers identify them by their trade name Rasbora, which isn’t their scientific name.

It’s very easy to care for these fish species, however, to reach their full potential, there are certain requirements you have to adhere to. Importantly, you should ensure the tank replicates its natural habitats.

Lifespan

If they get the required care, the fish species can have a life span of between 4 to 8 years. This life span is much lower than most aquarium animals and other fish species.

The time the fish species lives will depend on the care you accord to it. Providing a conducive environment, a good diet, and preventing the fish from common fish diseases will be a great step towards extending the fish’s lifespan. Poor water conditions in aquariums and stress due to poor diet and diseases will decrease lifespan (just like a red claw crab).

Appearance

The main thing that makes the fish popular among the aquatic vertebrates is their colorful appearance. They provide a bright, beautiful, colorful, and attractive appearance among other fish species. The fish species brightens the fishkeeping world with their bright red color.

Most parts of the fish have shades of pink and red colors. When you check the fish horizontally, you will realize the bright color red being dominant throughout the body. The male Chili Rasbora has vibrant shades of the color red, unlike their female counterparts. The red stripe on the fish has got a black band.

To differentiate between the male and female species, check for the fins. The males have red spots throughout all their fins. You can check on the anal. tail, and dorsal fins. With the translucent fins, the bright red spots on the fins have a floating appearance.

The Chili Rasbora has a tiny and slender body, their bright color can make you notice them in clear waters. The females’ species are slightly big, with a more rounded shape and slightly duller appearances than the male species.

Chili Rasbora Size
Chili Rasbora Size

Chilli Rasbora size

The Chili rasbora fish species are very tiny, unlike the other giant fish species. This fish species grow to a size of up to approximately 0.6 inches to 0.8 inches. However. Most of the fish experts consider them nano fish. You easily find them in most small tanks and aquariums worldwide.

Rasbora care

Despite your level of fishkeeping, caring for the Chili Rasbora is pretty simple and easy. The important thing to pay keen attention to is the water conditions the fish lives in and the environment. A conducive environment and water conditions replicating their natural habitats ensure that the fish thrives well.

Poor living environments such as poor water quality and environmental stresses can easily affect the thriving of the fish. These small fish species have some requirements that most fishkeepers see as unique. It’d be great if you were very careful when caring for the Chili Rasbora fish species. Below are some of the important things you’ll need to understand while caring for the fish species.

Main Things You Need To Understand While Taking Care of the Chili Rasbora

Tank size

Being a small fish species, you’ll only require 5 gallons of water, that’s a small tank size. It’s always advantageous to most fish keepers, as you don’t require huge tanks. However, if you want to have much fish it’s always good to go for a larger tank.

Keep in mind that the fish does best in groups, as long as you provide them with adequate space to swim. Adequate space will be a great tool in reducing the stress on the fish. The best ratio for keeping the fish is having 6-8 fish per 5 gallons of water.

It’s always good to consider their natural habitats when setting the tanks to replicate their natural habitats. Ensure the water is free from any nutrients, waste, and pathogens. If available, you can add some dark sand and almond leaves to make the habitat sound more natural to the animal.

What to include in the tank

If you aim at keeping your fish healthy, active, and productive, it’ll be good to create a perfectly conducive environment. The tank decor and anything you introduce will affect the fish’s safety, health, and overall activities. It’s very important to be keen while introducing anything in the tank.

The quality of water in the tank

It’s very important to replicate the natural habitats of the fish to the tank water. The pond water from which most of the fish originates usually has low minerals. Thus, it’ll be good to ensure you minimize the mineral in water, especially if you’re using tap water.

Tap water contains a lot of minerals like copper, chlorine, and some traces of chemicals. Using the tap water with these chemicals for the tank could adversely affect Chili Rasbora’s health. It’s very important to remove these nutrients using appropriate methods that don’t add more chemicals to the water.

Researchers have shown that using distilled water for the tank will be the most appropriate option. This water doesn’t have high mineral content and is very soft, thus conducive for the fish to thrive in. However, finding the distilled water is challenging; you can use tap water after thoroughly filtering and conditioning.

The water conditioning will remove any traces of chemicals and nutrients from the water. The water temperature should be between 20 to 28 degrees Celsius to prevent stress in fish.

What do you need for the rest of the tank?

To make the tank environment replicate the fish’s natural habitats, put a dark substrate at the bottom of the water tank. It’s good to use either fine gravel or sand as the substrate, as it ensures the floor mimics the dark pond floors.

To make the environment more natural, you can consider adding some floating plants and driftwood. The best option for the floating plants is usually the java moss, java fern, or the Anubis. The chili rasbora species love spending time in plants, thus, you’ll realize them swimming through the floating plants you’ve provided.

Chili Rasbora Tank
Chili Rasbora Tank

Chili rasbora requires an organic chemical compound known as tannins to help build upon their bright color. To obtain the organic chemical compound, you’ll need to place peat pellets and peat moss in the water tank. These substances, especially peat moss, will decompose after some time. During the decomposition, the pet moss will produce the organic chemical compound.

The tannins will also be important in reducing to essential in reducing the pathogens in the tank water. The moss will also ensure the water replicates the natural fish habitats by making the tank water look black, as is the case with the pond waters where the fish naturally were staying.

Apart from the addition of substances in the tank, some equipment is very vital in the tank. Due to the need for regular filtration, you can install a hang-on-back filter on the smaller tanks with your fish. You’ll need to invest more and purchase a powerful canister filter if you’ve got a large tank.

Any aquarium or fish tank must have an outlet for discharging water to prevent overstaying of the waters. When you have a tank with Chili Rasbora, it’ll be great if you placed the outlet at the lowest point of the tank. As the fish aren’t great simmers against strong water currents. More so, avoid using strong pumps for pumping water into the tank.

Diseases to Watch Out For While Caring For the Chili Rasbora

Diseases associated with Boraras brigittae species or freshwater fish alone only affect the Chili Rasbora fish. As you keep these fish species, the only issues you need to worry about are fungal problems and parasitic infections.

However, the disease that is most common among the fish species is the ich. Ich causes the fish to have some white spots or dots all over the body. These spots make the fish spend most of their time scratching themselves against anything they find in the tank.

Stress in fish may cause this infection, thus, it’s important to ensure the fish stays in a conducive environment and getting an adequate and healthy diet. It’s important to understand that the fish can transmit the disease to others, so it’ll be good to seek immediate interventions. Some over-the-counter medicines will be great in returning the fish’s health to normal.

Bacterial infections are also common among this species of fish. The infections cause red ulcers and streaks among the body of the skin and bloating. The main cause of the bacteria infection is poor water quality expired foods and stress. Thus, it’ll be good to ensure the water quality is good and the fish stays in a stress-free environment.

Chili Rasbora Food and Diet
Chili Rasbora Food and Diet

Food and Diet Recommendation of The Chili Rasbora

The Chili Rasbora fish are omnivorous, thus, it’s easy to feed them as they can eat anything. However, to keep the fish healthy and active, it’s good to feed them with high-quality foods, including plankton, insects, and worm, as it provides them with proteins. While feeding them, you should provide an adequate balanced diet consisting of small pellets or fish flakes.

It’s also good to supplement their diet with tubifex, daphnia, and baby brine shrimp once in a while. While feeding the fish, it’ll be good to provide them with small pieces of food, considering their mouth size. Experts recommend that feeding them about two or three times a day is appropriate.

General behavior and temperament

The aquatic vertebrates are always very peaceful, with some aggressive behavior at times. Immediately you place them in the tank, they will be dull. However, after getting comfortable, they’ll start exploring the tank. These fish are middle swimmers, they spend most of their time in the tank’s upper half of the water.

They only get to the bottom of the tank very rarely, maybe when they are feeding. Chili Rasbora like swimming through and hiding in the vegetation floating on the water in the tank. For the animals to thrive happily it’ll be good to have more than one fish in the tank, a group of 6-8 fish will be great as they love swimming together.

Tankmates for the Chili Rasbora

Not that these fish are small and peaceful means that they’ll get well with all the other fish or aquatic creatures in the tank. When choosing other aquatic creatures to live with the Chili Rasbora fish, it’ll be good to choose fish or aquatic animals that are calm and active. It’ll help these fish to live happily and actively.

You should select small animals that aren’t aggressive to stay with the fish in the tank. It’ll be very wrong to choose fish that will turn the chili rasbora into prey or enemies. While choosing partner or mates for the chili rasbora in the tank, you can consider the following options:

  • Dwarf shrimp
  • Otocinclus
  • Cory catfish
  • Neon tetra
  • Celestial Pearl Danio
  • Sparkling Gourami

These aquatic animals are very passive and active, thus making them great tank mates for your chili rasbora in the tank. Thus, it’s good to be careful when choosing the mates for your fish in the tank or aquarium.

Chili Rasbora Breeding

The chili rasbora breeds very easily compared to other fish types, as they are continuous spawners. Provided with conducive environments, these fish lays eggs regularly despite the season.
If you want to ensure proper breeding, experts advise that you have a separate breeding tank for the chili rasbora to breed.

The separate breeding tank ensures that you protect the spawn. 5- 6 days before breeding in the breeding tank provides the fish with vegetation. This vegetation will be essential for the female fish to spread before laying eggs. After which, ensure a good ratio of male to female in the breeding tank, preferably, one male to two females is good.

Before the female lays the eggs during breeding, it’ll scatter the vegetation at the tank’s bottom area. Then it will lay the eggs on the vegetation scattered at the bottom waters in the tank. After you identify this, it’ll be essential to remove the fish from this tank. Removing the fish from the tank gives the eggs ample time to hatch.

Caring For the Chili Rasbora Fry

After they lay eggs, you’ll need to be very keen as the Chili Rasbora isn’t good at parenting. Being omnivorous, they may attack and even eat the fry. After the female fish lays eggs, the male fish will fertilize the eggs. It’s always good to remove the fish from the tank after the males have fertilized the eggs because they can also feed on the eggs, thus preventing hatching.

After five to six days of the fertilization, the fry will come out. During the early days, allow them to feed on the eggs sacs, then gradually introduce them to some soft and small foods after they’re able to swim freely. The fry grows and matures after six to seven months.

Is Chili Rasbora a good option for first-time fish keepers?

Despite your level of fish keeping, Chili Rasbora is a suitable fish to keep in your aquarium or tank. With the ease of keeping it, little habitat requirement, and not being prone to diseases, it’s the perfect option if you’re a beginner in fish keeping.

Chili Rasbora is a suitable fish to keep in aquarium
Chili Rasbora is a suitable fish to keep in an aquarium

To sum it up

Ultimately, this Chili Rasbora guide has provided you with an insight into everything you need to understand about caring for this beautiful and peaceful aquatic creature.

The Chili Rasbora species is very easy to keep and care for. With their size, you don’t need a large tank or space to keep them. It’s also very easy to feed them as they feed on various feeds, and they aren’t prone to infections.

This fish species breeds easily, and with their peaceful behavior, it’ll be essential to be keen when choosing a suitable tank mate. Lastly, if you want to extend their life span, it’s necessary to focus closely on their diet and tank environment.

If you’ve got any questions about Chili Rasbora, you can freely ask.

About Rencel Leyran