Care Guide for Celestial Pearl Danios: Miniature Trout For Planted Tanks
The celestial pearl danio (CPD) is a delightful nano fish often sought by aquascapers because they look like miniature brook trout swimming amid a forest of plants and driftwood. They are a beautiful and elegant addition to any tank in which they live. However, they sometimes get the reputation for being shy fish that are easy to stress. These beautiful fish need to be loved and cared for.
What are Celestial Pearl Danios?
Danio margaritatus has many common names. These are due to the striking gold spots on their dark bodies. They can grow up to one inch (2.5 cm), and have bright, red-orange fins striped with black. They are a species that was discovered in 2006 from Southeast Asia. They can be found in shallow waters and dense vegetation.
How many celestial pearl danios should be kept together? As a schooling fish, they feel most comfortable in large groups so that they can more easily elude predators, find food, and breed. It is best to buy at least six schooling fish of the same species. However, they can be shy so we recommend buying 10-15 CPDs.
The more you know about schooling fish such as galaxy rasboras the better.
Are celestial pearl danios aggressive? No, CPDs are peaceful nano fish that do well with other community fish. CPDs are still danios. They can chase one another to establish dominance and/or display breeding behavior. Not to worry – while they may do some fin nipping amongst their own species, they rarely go after other tank mates.
How to Set Up an Aquarium for Galaxy Rasboras
We like keeping CPDs in at least 10 gallons of water, but if you purchase a bigger school of 10-15 fish as recommended, go for a 20-gallon aquarium or larger. They can tolerate a range of pH values from 6.6-8.0 to soft water hardness or GH. Because of their chasing behavior, try adding lots of live aquarium plants for them to dart in between.
Are celestial pearl danios cold water fish? While they can live up to 78degF (26degC), they thrive in lower temperatures from 72-76degF (22-24degC). Depending on how warm your home is, you may be able to keep this species in an unheated aquarium without a heater.
Many danios, including CPDs, enjoy cooler temperatures than your average tropical fish.
What fish can you put with galaxy rasboras? Avoid any large fish that may eat, bully, or outcompete them for food. CPDs can hide and may prefer to swim in the open. Consider adding dither fish to encourage them to be comfortable swimming out in the open. We have kept them with other friendly community fish, such as small tetras, Corydoras catfish, and kuhli loaches. People have had varied results with cherry shrimp as tank mates, so if you try them, make sure to add plenty of hiding spots and expect the CPDs to predate on any baby shrimp they find. Betta fish may or may not work because they tend to prefer warmer waters and can be hostile toward intruders. They may be able to go together if the temperature is kept at 77-78degC (25-26degC), the aquarium is large enough, and the betta isn’t too aggressive.
What are Celestial Pearl Danios’ Favorite Foods?
You can feed them small, slow-sinking food in the water column, since they love to swim in the middle. They love baby brine shrimps, frozen cyclops, daphnia, as well as micro worms. As for dry, prepared foods, we like to use crushed flakes and Easy Fry and Small Fish Food. It is important to provide a wide variety of food options to ensure that they receive all the nutrients necessary to live a healthy lifestyle.
How to Breed Galaxy Rasboras
Celestial pearl danios can be easily bred at home provided that you have at minimum six fish to ensure there is a mix of males as well as females. They are egg layers that prefer to spawn in media, so provide dense plants like java moss or a DIY yarn spawning mop. Feed them well, and once the females start developing large bellies full of eggs, they will likely spawn almost every day. You can prevent them from eating your eggs. Once they start to eat their eggs, you should move the spawning media to a separate tank. They will usually hatch in one week depending upon the water temperature. You can also place the galaxy roses in an outdoor mini-pond with lots of aquatic plants during the warmer months and bring them inside at the end to check how many they have multiplied.
Male celestial danios have brighter colors, while the females are more round.
CPDs in newborns are extremely small and need fry food less than 50um in size. Once they are large enough, we highly recommend feeding them live baby brine shrimp because they are packed with healthy fats and proteins to help the fry grow quickly.
Because of their beauty, celestial pearl Danios are a popular choice for nano-pest tank owners. For more stocking ideas, check out our article on the Top 10 Stunning Nano Fish for Your Next Small Fish Tank.
