BADI5 BADIS 



WALTER LAMNOY BRIND, F. Z. 5. 



The earliest data I possess concerning 

 Badis badis — Blue-fin (Blauflosser) as 

 the Germans call it — is of the year 1906, 

 but the species was surely taken into Ger- 

 many before that time. Paul Matte, of 

 Lankwitz, had bred the fish at that time, 

 and had told Stansch how to proceed to 

 get the best results. I met with it first 

 in Berlin, in 1910, purchasing a couple of 

 pairs from F. Olaf Andersen. From these 

 I raised a brood in Berlin, and another, 

 a year later, in Chicago. 



Following the plan of Matte, a flower 

 pot was placed upright in the sand of the 

 aquarium bottom, and filled to within 

 three inches of the top with sand. The 

 eggs are deposited in a hollow in the sand 

 within the pot, and are thereafter, until 

 hatched, guarded by the male, who vig- 

 orously fans them with his fins. With a 

 temperature of 77 degrees the fry appear 

 three days after oviposition. Four days 

 later the young are unceremoniously 

 "kicked out" to make room for another 

 brood. The female, however, should be 

 removed immediately after the eggs are 

 deposited. In nature the female would 

 wander off as a matter of course, and the 

 next mating of the male would be with 

 another female. 



Burkhardt, of Breslau, told me that he 

 failed to provide a flower-pot, whereupon 

 the fish dug a hole in the sand among the 

 plants. He observed that in spawning 

 the sexes became locked in a close em- 

 brace like Paradise fish, and that with 

 each contact the eggs were sprayed into 

 the sand-hollow. The male cared for the 

 eggs and the young until they left the 

 nest. 



When the female is removed from the 

 male, if further litters are desired, she 

 may well be placed in a tank similarly 

 equipped with a flower pot, and there 

 rested for a couple of weeks. The male, 

 after removal from the fry and being well 

 fed alone for a shorter period, can again 

 be placed with her. By thus moving the 



Badis badis 



fish about, quite a large number could be 

 raised from a single pair, and this also 

 applies to other fishes of similar breed- 

 ing habits. 



Badis is a small freshwater fish from 

 India, and in nature spawns in holes in 

 the banks of streams. During breeding 

 activities the male assumes bright colors, 

 suggesting the familiar Paradise fish. 

 Vertical dark blue stripes appear on an 

 orange, reddish-yellow or golden brown 

 ground color having a bluish sheen. The 

 female is somber in comparison. The 

 body is elongated, compressed from side 

 to side, and clumsy in general appear- 

 ance. The dorsal fin is long, that is, in 

 respect to its base, running from a point 

 behind the head well back to the caudal 

 peduncle. In the male the lobe of the 

 dorsal terminates in a point ; in the female 



