Danio choprae, also known as the ruby or glow-light danio, comes to us from rivers and streams in Myanmar. At a length of 4 cm, they are already fully grown. As with many schooling fish, the effect on the observer increases with the size of the school. A group of 30 animals roaming lively through the aquarium is simply impressive.
Glowlight danios are easy to keep and breed in neutral, medium-hard water. They do not have any special dietary requirements, they are adequately supplied with standard flake food, but they should also be allowed a certain amount of variety. Due to their small size, they can be kept in aquariums from 60 cm in length. They can easily be socialized with other fish and are a nice alternative to the frequently kept zebrafish.
The habitat of D. choprae can become quite cool at certain times of the year. It therefore makes sense to keep this species temporarily without additional heating; room temperature (approx. 18-20°C) is perfectly adequate. In summer and for breeding, the temperature can also be 26-28°C.
There is confusion about the correct spelling of the species name. In the scientific description (Hora, 1928), the spelling “choprae” is used. The name honors a man, Bashambhar Nath Chopra (1898-1966), an Indian zoologist. Grammatically correct, the Latin ending for a man in the genitive should have been -i, while -ae is the feminine genitive. This is why people with a better knowledge of Latin later changed the name to choprai. Today it is assumed that hardly anyone still knows Latin anyway and that it is therefore generally better to use the spelling used in the original work, i.e. choprae.
For our customers: the animals have code 413252 on our stock list. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Photos F. Schäfer, Text K. Diehl & F. Schäfer
