I've been breeding the Scarlet Badis for a little while now and I thought some people might be interested in how I did it and the really significant advantages of captive bred badis over wild caught or farmed specimens imported from India.
These fish are not often bred in captivity because almost no females are exported from India at all due to their drab colouration compared to the males. Even when you find a tank at the LFS that has pale, almost colourless specimens these turn out to be subdominant males 98% of the time and colour up to their full potential once isolated.
It took me a very long time to find a female and begin my experiments with breeding them.
Once you have a confirmed pair breeding is just a matter of providing the right conditions and sufficient food. I bred my first pair in a 50L nano tank with 23c soft water that was densely planted with plenty of moss and driftwood to provide hiding places. I used an internal biological filter with the outlet positioned to minimise flow in the tank. I began offering the adult pair as much livefood as they could eat. Grindal worms, Moina macrocopa, Ceriodaphnia and microworms. Under these conditions the male will quickly develop his impressive breeding colours but the females take a little bit longer to fatten up. They will become noticeably swollen with eggs when they are ready to breed.
The male will often chase the female around the tank and she communicates when she's ready to produce eggs by flashing her dark stripes. The females can make the black vertical stripes they have appear and disappear instantaneously almost like a cuttlefish.
Contrary to what I've seen reported elsewhere and from other people who have bred these fish the adults absolutely do not appear to eat their own fry at any stage of development. They don't seem to demonstrate any particular parental care either after they've hatched like some Apistogramma do but they absolutely will not eat them as long as they are well fed. I have raised 100% of my badis fry in the same tanks as the parents. I think where people suspect the parents to have eaten them they have been providing an insufficient diet to either the parents or fry. Fry are about as small as they come initially and almost impossible to see with the naked eye. If you look closely to will notice them hanging stationary on plant leaves and other objects in the tank. Once they become free swimming they will tend to stay entirely hidden in clumps of moss. I fed the fry initially on rotifers, then microworms and ceriodaphnia (even smaller than moina), and then once they were large enough moina macrocopa and grindal worms.
The main advantage of breeding these fish is that captive bred fry can be easily trained onto certain dried food. Many people struggle to get badis to thrive in their tanks because they can't provide sufficient tiny live foods and almost all shop bought specimens will be half starved at the point of sale for the same reason. It is almost impossible to train these wild caught/farmed fish onto any form of dried food or even frozen food however I have been able to train all of the fry I've produced to accept dried decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. Live foods should still be offered to maximise health and vitality but decapped brine shrimp eggs are a nutritious staple diet for them.
I'll include some videos and pictures. First of all the breeding tank.
Here are some captive bred badis eating dried food.
A thriving culture of ceriodaphnia
A female demonstrating her dark stripes and just a hint of blue.
![Plant Vertebrate Green Water Organism]()
This male has an unusual amount of blue colouration - it's not a trick of the light. He really stands out from the crowd and I'm tempted to try and selectively breed a high blue line of badis.
![Organism Underwater Water Fin Fish]()
These fish are not often bred in captivity because almost no females are exported from India at all due to their drab colouration compared to the males. Even when you find a tank at the LFS that has pale, almost colourless specimens these turn out to be subdominant males 98% of the time and colour up to their full potential once isolated.
It took me a very long time to find a female and begin my experiments with breeding them.
Once you have a confirmed pair breeding is just a matter of providing the right conditions and sufficient food. I bred my first pair in a 50L nano tank with 23c soft water that was densely planted with plenty of moss and driftwood to provide hiding places. I used an internal biological filter with the outlet positioned to minimise flow in the tank. I began offering the adult pair as much livefood as they could eat. Grindal worms, Moina macrocopa, Ceriodaphnia and microworms. Under these conditions the male will quickly develop his impressive breeding colours but the females take a little bit longer to fatten up. They will become noticeably swollen with eggs when they are ready to breed.
The male will often chase the female around the tank and she communicates when she's ready to produce eggs by flashing her dark stripes. The females can make the black vertical stripes they have appear and disappear instantaneously almost like a cuttlefish.
Contrary to what I've seen reported elsewhere and from other people who have bred these fish the adults absolutely do not appear to eat their own fry at any stage of development. They don't seem to demonstrate any particular parental care either after they've hatched like some Apistogramma do but they absolutely will not eat them as long as they are well fed. I have raised 100% of my badis fry in the same tanks as the parents. I think where people suspect the parents to have eaten them they have been providing an insufficient diet to either the parents or fry. Fry are about as small as they come initially and almost impossible to see with the naked eye. If you look closely to will notice them hanging stationary on plant leaves and other objects in the tank. Once they become free swimming they will tend to stay entirely hidden in clumps of moss. I fed the fry initially on rotifers, then microworms and ceriodaphnia (even smaller than moina), and then once they were large enough moina macrocopa and grindal worms.
The main advantage of breeding these fish is that captive bred fry can be easily trained onto certain dried food. Many people struggle to get badis to thrive in their tanks because they can't provide sufficient tiny live foods and almost all shop bought specimens will be half starved at the point of sale for the same reason. It is almost impossible to train these wild caught/farmed fish onto any form of dried food or even frozen food however I have been able to train all of the fry I've produced to accept dried decapsulated brine shrimp eggs. Live foods should still be offered to maximise health and vitality but decapped brine shrimp eggs are a nutritious staple diet for them.
I'll include some videos and pictures. First of all the breeding tank.
Here are some captive bred badis eating dried food.
A thriving culture of ceriodaphnia
A female demonstrating her dark stripes and just a hint of blue.
This male has an unusual amount of blue colouration - it's not a trick of the light. He really stands out from the crowd and I'm tempted to try and selectively breed a high blue line of badis.
