Badis sp. 'Buxar'

Overview

Badis sp. 'Buxar' is an unresolved, locality-named badid. Red centers to male body scales have also led to the Flame Dot trade name. Preserve collection and supplier information rather than automatically assigning a similar-looking described species name.

Distribution & habitat

The name refers to Buxa National Park in West Bengal, India, near Bhutan. It does not refer to Buxar city in Bihar.

The precise habitat is uncertain. Related northeastern Indian badids often inhabit shallow, slow streams with dense marginal or submerged vegetation. That is a useful comparison, not a confirmed collection-site description for this fish.

Aquarium setup

Use sand or gravel with rounded stones, roots, and branches to create separate retreats. Floating plants, leaves, and attached Microsorum, Taxiphyllum, or Anubias provide additional cover. Light and filtration need not be powerful.

Include caves made from coconut shells or accessible clay pots, spreading them apart and interrupting sight lines between males. Seasonal temperature changes are tolerated. Heating can be unnecessary where room conditions remain suitable, while a gentle rise within the normal range can encourage breeding. Brief tolerance of extremes should not determine long-term care.

Diet & feeding

The genus captures small aquatic crustaceans, worms, insect larvae, and zooplankton, and may refuse dry foods. Even after acceptance improves, provide regular small live or frozen Artemia, Daphnia, and similar prey. Ensure that slow feeders actually receive food.

Bloodworms and Tubifex are associated with obesity and health problems and are best kept out of the regular menu.

Behaviour & compatibility

A species aquarium makes feeding and breeding easier to manage. This is not a shoaling fish. Use a pair or one male with several females where space is limited; several males need separate territories, caves, and visual barriers because rivalry can be intense.

If companions are included, choose peaceful upper-water fishes. Avoid large, active, strongly competitive feeders and similar territorial bottom dwellers. Keep other Badis species apart because hybridization is possible. Ornamental shrimp, especially their young, may be eaten.

Sexual dimorphism

Females are smaller, duller, and rounder in profile. Males develop slightly extended fins, and the bright red scale centers are particularly useful markings.

Breeding

Captive reproduction has succeeded several times. The genus generally forms temporary pairs for cave spawning, with male care. For greater fry survival, use a dedicated arrangement with an independent cave for every male.

Conditioned males can become almost black with more intense blue fins, and courtship may involve mouth-locking while drawing a female into shelter. Typical batches contain roughly 30–100 eggs, followed by the male expelling the female and guarding and fanning the brood. Generic observations give two to three days to hatch, free swimming around six to eight days old, and possibly another week near the cave.

Adults, including the father, may then eat dispersing fry. Separate them and begin with microworms for the initially inactive young, introducing Artemia nauplii when they swim in the water column.

Notes

Placement near the Badis corycaeus group has been suggested. Proposed identity with Badis singenensis rests partly on three dorsal-base blotches and one anal-base blotch. However, the known localities are separated by hundreds of kilometers, and the descriptive material does not confirm the connection with live fish. Those markings alone should not settle the name.