Dario hysginon

Overview

The tiny Myanmar badid Dario hysginon has conspicuously red males and often uses still, densely vegetated water. Slow feeding and male territoriality favor a dedicated aquarium that allows close attention to condition and reproduction.

Distribution & habitat

Records include streams near Myitkyina, Lake Indawgyi, and sites farther south near Mandalay, all within the Ayeyarwady system. Northern and southern populations differ slightly in some anatomical counts.

It favors small pools with submerged grasses or aquatic plants, sometimes in turbid water. The clear type stream has sand and pebbles and is about 1 m deep during the dry season, but this fish uses still edge pools. Badis corycaeus occupies flowing margins and Badis kyar faster central water.

In Lake Indawgyi it is abundant in marshy, heavily planted margins with little current over soft clay rich in decaying plants. Companions include fishes adapted to oxygen-poor habitats; that does not remove the need for sound aquarium water management.

Aquarium setup

Use soft substrate or fine gravel with dense cover. Cryptocoryne, attached Microsorum, Anubias, and Taxiphyllum are useful, with moss also providing spawning surfaces. Branches, floating plants, and leaves further divide the aquarium.

A pair or one male with several females can start in a 45 cm tank. Several males need more room, independent territories, and visual barriers. Spread caves and potential spawning surfaces around the layout. Maintain suitable stable soft water rather than equating near-neutral pH with high hardness.

Diet & feeding

The genus feeds on small aquatic crustaceans, worms, insect larvae, and zooplankton. Offer minute live or frozen foods such as Artemia nauplii, small Daphnia, microworms, and banana worms.

Check that slow individuals get enough before companions consume the food. Bloodworms and Tubifex are associated with obesity and health problems and are best excluded.

Behaviour & compatibility

Prefer a species aquarium. It is not a shoaling fish: a pair or single male with several females suits limited space. Multiple males can fight intensely and require separate areas and cover.

If companions are added, choose peaceful small upper-water fishes or suitable miniature loaches. Avoid large, active, or highly competitive feeders. A lack of visible chasing does not rule out gradual starvation through food competition.

Sexual dimorphism

Mature males are brighter and develop elongated pelvic, dorsal, and anal fins. Females are smaller and rounder. Sales groups may consist mostly of males, so inspect individual fish when assembling breeders.

Breeding

It forms temporary pairs and lays eggs on solid surfaces. Condition adults with live and frozen foods and provide separate male territories. Excluding other species improves fry survival; where several males are present, the dominant one usually gains most breeding opportunities.

Courtship may last for days, with stronger colors and alternating invitations and rejection of the female. Egg deposition is brief, beneath leaves or other hard surfaces. The female is then excluded while the male retains the territory. Move egg-bearing material into spawning-tank water or remove adults to reduce predation after hatching.

Eggs hatch after roughly two to three days, and yolk absorption may take another week. Begin with infusoria-sized foods, adding microworms and Artemia nauplii only when the young can swallow them.

Notes

Differences from the similar Dario dayingensis include palatine teeth and scale counts. The barred fish marketed as Myanmar or Black Tiger was historically treated as a color form here. Its larger size and distinguishable females mean that old color-form labels should not be used to merge identities automatically.