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Celestial pearl danios worth it?

mort

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15 Nov 2015
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Anyone have these and regret adding them? I know they are tiny and can be shy but do they simply disappear in a heavily planted tank? Ive read about them as much as i can but there is nothing like personal experience.
I've always liked them and am happy to setup a dedicated tank for them but want to see them as much as possible.

If you have had them and wouldn't get them again, is there anything you've swapped them with, with good results?
 
I kept them in a 30cm cube, probably way to small really, even tho they are tiny fish I am sure they would have preferred more room, I started with 10 fish about 2 years ago, I think they are now all gone, I never noticed a dead fish but for the life I me I cant see any in the tank anymore. My experience was they where very shy, hid at the back in the plants, they did venture out for food. Very nice fish to look at when I saw them but dont think I would bother with them again.

I have read they are very easy to breed.
 
They hung out back for me too, very shy, wouldn't get again. I like the fish in the (not very good) photo in my profile pic (sundadanio), a smidge smaller than the CPDs but always dancing around the front of the tank. Harder to find in LFS though and probably won't look great until your bring them home.
 
My experience with these little guys has been generally negative. Beautiful little fish, but I've bought stock from three different retailers and all succumbed to the same affliction (classic concave stomach and bent back) I've treated my tanks with various medications and have had no issues with any of the other fish I've kept.

Will definitely come out more if kept in a large group, but a very shy fish in general.
 
I kept them along with white cloud mountain minnows. They were not shy , I could see the all the time. The tank was a high tech 60 litre. I even managed to save a small fry.

I believe the main problem with them is that they are extremely overbred and it's really difficult to get your hands on good stock.
 
I found mine shy too, though I suspect I also had bad stock... they didn't last long... dropsy seemed to get them though my water was perfect for them...
 
They need dither fish which are bold to swim in the open or up to the front of the tank. Without these, they are shy and timid and will hide at the back or behind cover of plants.

P. Gertrudae, D.Tinwini and Endler’s guppy may make suitable candidates as they are a little bit larger in size (by about 0.5-1cm) and don’t swim too fast to outcompete the CPDs during feeding.

Definitely worth it once they colour up!
 
Where I live, they can be up to $20 per fish, so difficult to afford as I would prefer at least 15.

Has anyone kept them with the mosquito rasbora? Could be a good dither combo.
 
Anyone have these and regret adding them? I know they are tiny and can be shy but do they simply disappear in a heavily planted tank? Ive red about them as much as i can but there is nothing like personal experience.
I've always liked them and am happy to setup a dedicated tank for them but want to see them as much as possible.

If you have had them and wouldn't get them again, is there anything you've swapped them with, with good results?

I added 10 of these in my planted 2x1x1.5 ft tank, very densely planted with thousands of shrimp.
I didn't see them until I tore the tank down to replace the tank with an ADA 60P

Now in ADA tank, no soil just the xmas moss tied to rocks. Same story.
So I go and buy 10pc of cherry barbs and I am very very happy with the bright orange color they have developed.

I don't feed this tank, all the fish hunt the shrimps...during the day time they(Cherry Barbs) are busy hunting in the moss, and only come up to open waters during night when the lights are out.
CPD are too tiny and shy for my liking and I wont buy them again but I don't regret adding them to my tank.

may be once or twice in a week only I will have a glimpse of the CPD chasing/hunting baby shrimp.. Plants and black background makes it even more difficult for us to spot them.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Seems like they would be an expensive and rarely seen project.
 
Hi all,
I added 10 of these in my planted 2x1x1.5 ft tank, very densely planted with thousands of shrimp.
I didn't see them until I tore the tank down to replace the tank with an ADA 60P

Now in ADA tank, no soil just the xmas moss tied to rocks. Same story.......I don't feed this tank, all the fish hunt the shrimps...during the day time they(Cherry Barbs) are busy hunting in the moss
This is going to sound really strange, but I like fish that you don't see too often, and tanks where the fish can disappear when they want to.

It at least gives me the illusion that the fish are happy and living their "natural" lives.

This tank (from @Tim Harrison's "Windswept Eternity") is just about perfect.

33867057721_6c36d34d8a_c-jpg.jpg


cheers Darrel
 
I'm with you, Darrel, I don't like to see everything all the time. It's like looking into a natural habitat, when you know what species live there, but you don't know what you might see today.
 
They are one of those fish where it seems 20 is more of a minimum shoal number for active visible fish

C margaritatus does seem much more outgoing than C erythromicron
They seem happier (more relaxed) with another small species fluttering about - ember tetra, pseudomugil gertrudae are 2 mixes I’ve observed (local shop display tanks - I’ve yet to keep these micro rasboras as there are other fish I just like better)

Where I live, they can be up to $20 per fish, so difficult to afford as I would prefer at least 15.
:eek:

They were crazy expensive locally some years ago, but now range from $4-$9 depending ...

I’ve noticed that some groups that ship in are much more outgoing than others - some appear wild caught, others tank bred (often more expensive), I’ve also seen recent (tank bred) shipments that arrive at significantly larger than the reported maximum size (of wild populations)
Part of the cost of these fish is they can be fragile to ship
 
I'm with you, Darrel, I don't like to see everything all the time. It's like looking into a natural habitat, when you know what species live there, but you don't know what you might see today.
Same for me, my tank's densely planted and I like fish to behave as naturally as possible, milling around amongst or at the edge of stands of plants. A quick head count at feeding is sufficient for me. After all, it would be a stupid, short lived fish that advertised itself in open water in the wild.
 
Hi all, This is going to sound really strange, but I like fish that you don't see too often, and tanks where the fish can disappear when they want to.

It at least gives me the illusion that the fish are happy and living their "natural" lives.

Whilst I am with you in one respect, where I love seeing true natural behaviours, it would be also quite nice to see alot of them. I know that however I plan the tank it will eventually turn out as a heavily planted jungle style tank as that's how mine always go. At the moment I have a dozen or so beckfords pencilfish and I only ever see a few at a time because the tank is so heavily planted. I'm happy with that as they are decent sized fish and I still get to see males sparring, breeding behaviour and the odd little one pop up. The fact is though I get to see a lot with only a limited view of their lives and with small fleeting glimpses I think I would miss too much of this behaviour. My plan was a single species tank so I'm not sure I get enough out of them to warrant a whole new setup, if that makes sense.
 
I've kept them twice, and it's like Iain mentions above. If they're kept in big enough numbers, and in a heavily planted tank, they can be quite bold. I'd buy at least 10.

Dither fish also help. My current scape is perhaps a little over stocked with too many species for some folks tastes but I've found that my Boraras have benefitted and become very bold. They hid all the time in my other scapes; except for otos they were the only species. Now they're more often than not swimming in the open; safety in numbers.

The real problem is finding good stock. All the ones I've seen over the last couple of years have been very poor specimens; probably a result of inbreeding. They usually succumb very quickly to stress and diseases like TB.
 
I'd buy at least 10.


The real problem is finding good stock. All the ones I've seen over the last couple of years have been very poor specimens; probably a result of inbreeding. They usually succumb very quickly to stress and diseases like TB.

This is probably the reason why I'll go for something else tbh. I don't mind shy as long as I see some of them but they are a fiver a piece round here and I figure I'd probably need 20 to get a final 10 (if I'm lucky). Im happy to pay a premium for healthy fish but don't really like contributing to the detriment of the species by encouraging poorly bred stock.
 
What alternatives are you considering mort?

Not really considering anything tbh. I just saw some cpds and then an article in pfk which got me thinking. I'm happy to wait for something interesting and don't tend to go looking very often. My pencilfish have been the only fish in their tank for 2 years as I haven't seen anything I want to go with them, well I have but only a couple left at the lfs when I want a group of 10-15.
 
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