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THE GIANT DANIO 



WALTER LANNOY BRIND, F. Z. S. 



I 



The truly magnificent Giant Danio is 

 a native of the Malabar coast of India — 

 one glance at its gorgeous coloration is 

 sufficient to make one think of its home 

 — the land of the Rajahs. The ground 

 color of the sides is superb metallic tur- 

 quoise blue ; shining emerald green in 

 certain lights. Along the sides are three 

 horizontal golden stripes extending from 

 the tail to a point above the ventral fins, 

 becoming at this place vertical and zig- 

 zag bars, and broken blotches of .gold. 

 These vertical zigzag markings are 

 more numerous on the female. The 

 centre of the tail of the male is dusky- 

 blackish, with reddish golden stripes 

 above and below the dark central streak ; 

 lest of tail and anal, reddish salmon: 

 ventrals similar in color, but lighter ; 

 pectorals clear greyish-white ; dorsal 

 dusky transparent greyish- white with an 

 indistinct white upper edge divided off 

 by a dusky streak. The female has the 

 dusky central portion of the tail running 

 upwards towards the tip of the upper 

 lobe, and the golden stripes above and 

 below it are not so pronounced. The 

 warm salmon-red diffusion on the tail, 

 other fins and belly of the male during 

 breeding time is hardly apparent on the 

 female, which is more of a pale greyish 

 color on the fins. The females have a 

 deeper abdomen and a higher back, and 

 on this account the golden stripes seem 

 more separated. The line of the back of 

 the female from the head to the dorsal 

 fin is curved, whereas that of the male 

 is almost straight. The sexes of this 

 species are rather hard to distinguish, 

 hence I have gone into considerable de- 

 tail to point out the characteristics of 



each. In point of size the largest I have 

 seen measure four inches over all. I 

 have five of this size at the present writ- 

 ing, all imported specimens. 



Danio malabaricus has been bred by 

 aquarists of my acquaintance, but I can- 

 not so far lay claim to that distinction. 

 The main requirements for successful 

 propagation are plentiful sunshine, a 

 large aquarium, high temperature (86 to 



Danio malabaricus (Male) 



95 degrees, Fahrenheit), abundant live 

 food and clear, pure water. In a large 

 well-planted aquarium, with the men- 

 tioned conditions present, a well-mated 

 and ripe pair of fish, the chances are that 

 a spawning will occur, and if one, then 

 more later under the same conditions. 

 The eggs fall to the bottom and are not 

 adhesive, hatching in a period of twen- 

 ty-four hours to several days according 

 to the water-temperature. The young 

 attach themselves to the glass sides of 

 the tank or to the plants, hanging from 

 them like coma marks, but soon are able 

 to swim and may be seen darting about 

 near the surface. As soon as the eggs 

 are extruded, or if the operation escapes 

 attention, then as soon as the young are 

 discovered, the parents must be remov- 

 ed to another tank. In the latter case, 

 it may be expected that quite a number 



