Celestial Pearl Danio

 Quick Care Facts

• Care Level: Easy   • Temperament: Peaceful   • Maximum Size: 1"
• Minimum Tank Size: 10 gallons   • Water Conditions: 73-79° F, KH 8-12, pH 6.5-7.5
• Diet: Omnivore   • Origin: Burma / Myanmar   • Family: Cyprinidae
• Species: Danios   • Aquarium Type: Community

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In 2006 the freshwater aquarium hobby was introduced to a beautiful new species of Danio discovered in the ponds and calm waterways of the Salween basin in Burma or modern day Myanmar. The Celestial Pearl Danio or Galaxy Danio was an immediate hit with aquarists as its brilliant coloration, ease of care and suitability for community or planted aquariums made it an overnight success.

The coloration of the Celestial Pearl Danio simply cannot be ignored with their light blue body and gold spots, transparent fins with red and black stripes and gold underbelly is simply a beautiful sight, which is even more impressive in schools of 6 to 10 individuals. Unfortunately their success in the aquarium hobby has put a serious strain on their wild populations as they live in a relatively small area and are being collected for the aquarium hobby faster than they can comfortably re-populate their numbers.

Fortunately the Celestial Pearl Danio has been successfully bred within the aquarium hobby and many distributors are working on breeding programs to reduce or eliminate the pressure on this species in the wild.

In the aquarium environment, the Celestial Pearl Danio is an ideal species for any planted or community aquarium as it brings an abundance of color and will get along with other community species well. Another plus for this species is that they are quite easy to care for as they will tolerate a variety of water temperatures and conditions, although they would prefer a water temperature around 78° F with a slightly alkaline pH.

Celestial Pearl Danio are a small schooling species that should be kept in groups of at least 6 individuals with 8 or 10 individuals in the group being ideal. It is best to replicate a fish species natural environment within the aquarium, and for this species that means having an abundance of vegetation (preferably live plants) with some drift wood and rocks.

In the wild this species lives in very calm water that is often spring fed or formed from overflows of other waterways, thus they should be kept in aquariums that do not have constant strong direct currents. Celestial Pearl Danio live in shallow water in the wild that has strong direct sunlight, so they do very well in strongly lit planted aquariums, and will use heavily planted areas in the aquarium or driftwood and rocks to retreat to if they feel threatened.

The Celestial Pearl Danio is an omnivore that will eat virtually any standard topical fish foods available within the hobby. They will readily accept flaked foods, frozen preparations, vegetable or algae flakes and wafers along with freeze-dried bloodworms, tubifex worms and brine shrimp. Essentially they will eat the same foods that would be being fed to the bulk of tropical freshwater species found in a tropical community aquarium.