# The Celestial Pearl Danio



## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

is anyone keeping them in hard water, so far i have heard they prefer soft water. i just wanted to know if anyone keeping them in hard water without any problems.


http://www.celestialpearldanio.com/


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

Most references that I've read suggest that they prefer medium hard water. Apparently the water of their native is slightly alkaline and moderately hard. Where did you read that they like soft water?


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## pinkertd (Jun 17, 2007)

I also don't remember seeing anything that said they prefer soft water or I wouldn't have tried them. My water is ph 7.6-7.8, KH = 11 and GH = 15 and I had baby CPD's coming out of my ears.


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## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

*hi*

i guess the store people are misleading some of us. the guy who sold me said that they wont breed in hard water etc and they prefer soft water and that is how he keeps them and breed them. even at some other local store like fish4u keep them in soft water. the reason i asked this because i lost one of them yesterday while all my other fishes are fine (i had my cardinals for almost forever now).



pinkertd said:


> I also don't remember seeing anything that said they prefer soft water or I wouldn't have tried them. My water is ph 7.6-7.8, KH = 11 and GH = 15 and I had baby CPD's coming out of my ears.


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## MrJG (Feb 21, 2007)

I have a group of 18 or so in very soft water for the past 6-7 months @ about 72-73 F. They seem to be doing fine but not breeding at all. Might try to bring the hardness up a bit to see if that spurs some action. I hadn't planned on breeding but it would be a nice experiment.


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## Niyona (Feb 20, 2010)

I plan on keeping mine in hard water. I just ordered some from my LFS. However, I'd rather have them from a breeder. So you guys who have babies ((out the ears)) *giggles* send me a PM, cause I'll take some!


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## webgirl74 (Dec 2, 2009)

Mine aren't breeding, but I have a very high PH of almost 8 out of the tap and they are all healthy and fine. Haven't lost any.


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

I just bought a bunch today. I've been on the lookout for these for some time. This is the first time I've seen these fishes at a LFS. The price was very reasonable as well. I'm guessing it's safe to assume that these are all tank bred by now. Hopefully they're hardier than the wild caught ones.

These are now my new favorite fishes. They have so much personality. They're so small that I was tempted to buy more, but I'm hoping that they'll breed amongst themselves.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

I keep them in our water happi, and i have bred them in our water.


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## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

*hu nue*

i think both of our water is same from the same source. do you have the full details of our water. could you please post it by any chance if you have the full report of our water. i would really like to know how much nutrients our water already have in it. thanks buddy



Nue said:


> I keep them in our water happi, and i have bred them in our water.


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

Yes we do have the same water, here ya go. 

http://www.kearnsid.org/WQR.pdf


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

I keep mine (18-22 not sure how many at the moment) in neutral water around 7.0 and Have a dozen babies swimming around my tank (55g) 

The key is food. Bloodworms make babies. Simple as that.

-Andrew


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## Niyona (Feb 20, 2010)

live bloodworms, of will the frozen do?


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## Nue (Dec 27, 2009)

I've used frozen, but i had to chop them up into tiny pieces.


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## A Hill (Jul 25, 2005)

Live, frozen are so-so not great IMO.

-Andrew


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

They will be fine in your water, I am pretty sure my water is moderately hard and mine are breeding with no problems. They take a long time to mature and will breed at around 1 year old. Males become very bright during breeding. Live food helps, and also water changes.


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## bbeddes (Oct 27, 2009)

I've got 30+ in good old Utah tap (liquid rock).... they seem happy enough, and I haven't lost a one. No spawning that I have noticed, but not sure if I would know if they did. Same goes for a dozen or so of the Emerald dwarf rasboras.


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## Erloas (Dec 14, 2009)

I'm hoping mine breed some. I got them in SLC, which means a long trip to get any more. They look like they are doing well in my shrimp tank, and as far as I've seen they haven't ate even the smallest shrimp.

Not sure if they are to breeding age yet, but one of them is very brightly colored, bright orange fins and a very distinctive stripe from his head down his back. I assume they are all about the same age. I really wish I could get a good picture of him, but with my point and shoot, and the fact that the tank is 24x24x12" means there is a lot of room for them to go and not a lot of side view. They also like to hide a lot.

Are they normally a bottomish fish? Because mine spend almost all the time right near the ground hiding under plants and mosses. There is cover higher in the water column, but only being 12" tall, there isn't a lot of vertical space anyway. Not sure if that bothers them or not. Since the other danios and rasbaros I know all seem to be mid to upper water fish. Not sure if they are more danio or more rasbaro, because most places now seem to list them under galaxy microrasbaros.

Another quick question, though more about the shrimp. Since these fish spawn, is it possible or likely, that the RCS would eat the eggs between when they are dropped and before they would be hatched?


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## funkyfish (Mar 16, 2009)

Give them time to adjust. They get about 1" full grown so if they smaller than that they might not be ready to breed just yet. Having more males than females gets better chances of babies. They extremely hard to get a good picture of, I still haven't been successful :/

They are middle fish but will go to the top to eat when needed. They pretty shy so having heavily planted tank helps a lot. They might not adjusted to your tank yet and thats why they hiding. The tank being 12" tall should not bother them since they come from small shallow lake with a lot of vegetation. 

Never seen RCS eat eggs but I would not rule it out since I had some fresh hatched fry disappear, they would make easy meal to shrimp when the cling to the walls. If you serious about breeding them I would suggest setting up a separate tank...


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## bbeddes (Oct 27, 2009)

I've never seen mine bother any shrimp, either. However, I'm sure that the shrimp would feast on any eggs they find.... which probably explains no fry.

They do like to stay close to cover. They are not comfortable in open water (unless it's dinner time). This is fine with me... it's fun watch them darting in and out, playing their little hide and seek games in the plants. The Emerald dwarf rasboras are even more timid. You have to be very still and quiet before they will come out.


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## CanadianMatt81 (Feb 22, 2010)

I'm in love with my new Celestials. I found some wild caught ones at my local fish store this week and I'm elated. I've only bought 5 right now but I've already asked the store to hold whatever they have left for me to pick up tomorrow.

To answer the question of hardness, my PH is 7.8 and in the first 3 days my 5 are great in color, swimming around happily, and loving life. My tank is also pretty much nothing but plants and caves so they should thrive as long as my sword tails don't decide that they are food.


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