rm
Passport
- Grows to
- 9 cm (3.5")
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- CareSuggested
- Intermediate
- SwimsSuggested
- On the bottom
- Keep
- In a group of 3 or more
- Water
- 22–27 °C (72–81 °F)
Myanmar
Care requirements
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On record for Panda Garra: adult size, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
Not on record for Panda Garra: lifespan, minimum tank.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- pH 6.5–7.5
- Hardness 2–12 dGH
- Diet omnivore
- Tank length 90 cm minimum
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Panda garras are a comparatively recent arrival and they've earned their place quickly. Bold black-and-cream blotching, a suckermouth underneath, and a personality far larger than the fish — they're inquisitive, busy, and genuinely engaging in a way most algae grazers aren't.
They come from fast, cool, oxygen-rich streams in Myanmar, and the pattern breaks up against a stony bed exactly as camouflage should.
They're grazers rather than plant eaters, working over hard surfaces for algae and biofilm. They're also strong enough and confident enough to hold their own in a community of similar-sized fish, which sets them apart from the more retiring suckermouths.
Tank setup
Give your panda garras flow and hard surfaces. They're built to grip rock in a current, and a still tank with soft furnishings gives them nothing to do.
Keep the tank cool. Like most hillstream fish they want the temperate end of the range, and warm water leaves them short of oxygen and short-lived.
Floor it with smooth stones, pebbles and sand, with wood for variety. That's their habitat and it grows the algae they eat.
Light it reasonably brightly. Algae is food here rather than a nuisance.
Keep a small group. They interact with each other constantly, chasing and displaying without doing damage, and it's most of the interest in them.
Cover the tank — they climb and they jump.
Feeding
Panda garras graze algae and biofilm off rock and glass, and a mature well-lit tank supplies a real part of it.
Supplement properly. Algae wafers, blanched courgette and spinach, sinking vegetable pellets, plus occasional protein — they're omnivores rather than strict grazers and they'll take frozen food readily.
They're bold at feeding time and won't be pushed off food by much.
Avoid: relying on tank algae alone, which won't sustain a group, and avoid a protein-heavy diet.
Filtration and flow
Over-filter and add flow. This is the requirement that matters most, and they'll use every bit of current you give them.
Oxygenation follows from that, and a cool well-circulated tank meets both needs at once.
Keep the water clean. They're hardy but they come from clear fast streams and a stagnant tank suits them badly.
With plants
Panda garras are safe with plants and won't eat healthy growth.
They graze algae off leaves, which is useful, and they're not heavy enough to damage much while doing it.
Choose plants that tolerate strong flow and cooler water — java fern, anubias and moss attached to hardscape all work well.
Health
They're hardy in a suitable tank and decline in a warm, still one, which is the usual mistake.
Watch for a fish hanging in midwater rather than gripping a surface. In a species built to hold rock, that generally means the oxygen has dropped.
Check body condition. A thin garra needs more supplementary food rather than treatment.
Breeding
They've been bred in home aquaria, though not commonly, and the reports follow a consistent pattern.
Cool, heavily oxygenated, fast-flowing tanks with a gravel bed are the setting, and large cool water changes appear to act as the trigger — the same seasonal cue that starts their breeding in the wild.
Eggs are scattered among gravel and the adults take no interest afterwards. Fry need the same clean fast water as the adults and a surface film of algae to graze, which is the part that's hard to provide at the scale they need.
Tank mates
Avoid33
- Amano Shrimp Panda Garra reaches 9 cm and will eat adult Amano Shrimp.
- Bamboo Shrimp Panda Garra reaches 9 cm and will eat adult Bamboo Shrimp.
- Blue Bolt Shrimp Panda Garra reaches 9 cm and will eat adult Blue Bolt Shrimp.
- Blue Dream Shrimp Panda Garra reaches 9 cm and will eat adult Blue Dream Shrimp.
- Cardinal Sulawesi Shrimp Panda Garra reaches 9 cm and will eat adult Cardinal Sulawesi Shrimp.
Only with care16
- Betta Betta is aggressive and Panda Garra is peaceful.
- Chinese Algae Eater Chinese Algae Eater is aggressive and Panda Garra is peaceful.
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid is aggressive and Panda Garra is peaceful.
- Demasoni Cichlid Demasoni Cichlid is aggressive and Panda Garra is peaceful.
- Dwarf Chain Loach Dwarf Chain Loach is semi-aggressive and Panda Garra is peaceful.
59 species are not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.