BADIS BADIS - IT REALLY WASN'T THAT BAD!
by Scott Tetzlaff / SWMAS
Reprinted from the Dec. 2003 "SWAM"
Badis badis is also known as the chameleon fish due to it's ability to quickly change it's bright colors. Taxonomically it is a bit of a chameleon as well. It shows a relationship to Anabantids - Gouramis and Leaf Fish. At the present time the genus is monotypic and Badis badis is the only species. However, with the discovery of the un-described Scarlet Badis, all of the subspecies are being looked at and may be broken up. Specimens of this fish can be found in India, Pakistan, Burma and Thailand, resulting in the subspecies.
The Badis is one of the old-time fish and it is a fish found in all the old aquarium literature. It was quite commonly found as late as the 1980's. But now very few people keep this fish and it rarely appears in pet stores.
For the past ten years, every time I have seen some in the shops I have purchased them. I had no luck breeding what the books say is an easy fish to spawn. I now see that my problem was .......I had only males! I had never seen a picture of a female. The difference is the males are ventrally concave (curves up) while the females are ventrally convex (curves down). When you only see males you believe this to be a subtle difference. After finally finding a female I discovered 9it isn't very subtle. The males are more brightly colored and thin while the females are duller and rounded. I finally found a female ( actually two) on one of our excursions to Milwaukee. This took nine years of searching but, after setting up an 8-gallon tank for about a month, I had fry.
So, as far as my experience in breeding, obtaining the female is the hard part. The low 8-gallon tank setup contained a sponge filter, a piece of driftwood, two ceramic caves and a mop for cover. The male took charge of one cave and soon there were eggs in that cave. In a few days wigglers appeared. I left the first spawn with the male. They disappeared! So, after the second spawn, I took the wigglers.
In my experience, Badis seem to prefer soft water, little light, and a peaceful tank with plenty of cover. They are cave spawners, so some sort of cave is needed. Badis badis is a nice little fish of about 2 to 2 1/2 inches. It has a cichlids attitude without the nastiness.
What did I learn from this adventure? Spawning fish is easier when you have both males and females.