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Pearl Danio
Danio albolineatus
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Photo by Sc99cs at English Wikipedia (Original text: Steven Coburn sc99cs) · Public domain
Passport
- Family
- Danios / Whiteclouds / Medakas
- Grows to
- 5.5 cm (2.2")
- Lives
- 5 years
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Care
- Beginner
- Swims
- Near the surface
- Keep
- In a group of 8 or more
- Water
- 16–25 °C (61–77 °F)
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Care requirements
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On record for Pearl Danio: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 76 L / 20.0 US gal
- pH 6–8
- Hardness 1–20 dGH
- Diet insectivore
- Tank length 90 cm minimum
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Pearl danios are built for speed and they never stop. A shoal of them covers the length of a tank in a blink, and the appeal is entirely in that motion — the body is a pale iridescent lavender-pink that flashes as they turn, with an orange line along the rear half.
They're subtler than a zebra danio and rather more elegant, without the hard black stripes. Under good light the sheen genuinely does look like mother of pearl.
They're also hardy to the point of being difficult to kill, which has made them a standard beginner fish for the better part of a century.
Tank setup
Give your pearl danios length above all else. They're among the most active fish in the hobby and a short tank frustrates them badly — a long footprint matters far more than volume.
Keep a proper group. They're strongly shoaling and a few of them are nervous and skittish, which shows as fish crashing into the glass.
Cover the tank. They're powerful swimmers and jumpers, and an open aquarium loses them.
Leave the middle and upper water clear and plant at the back and sides. They use the open water almost exclusively.
They tolerate cool water well and don't need tropical warmth.
Feeding
Pearl danios eat anything, quickly, and mostly at the surface.
Feed a good flake as a base with regular frozen and live food — daphnia, bloodworm and brine shrimp all bring up the iridescence.
They're fast enough to out-compete almost anything else in the tank, so check that slower fish get their share.
Avoid: overfeeding. They'll take as much as you put in and they always look hungry.
Filtration and flow
Give them decent flow and good oxygenation. They come from flowing streams and they're strong enough to enjoy a current.
Standard filtration handles them easily. They're tolerant of a wide range of conditions and forgiving of ordinary mistakes.
Regular water changes keep the sheen up, which is the only visible effect of maintenance on this fish.
With plants
Pearl danios are entirely safe with plants and never touch them.
Plant the back and sides heavily and leave the swimming channel free. The layout matters more than the species for a fish this active.
Floating plants can help calm them, though they're bold enough not to need cover the way a small tetra does.
Health
They're exceptionally hardy and rarely ill. Cool tolerance and adaptability make them one of the easiest fish to keep alive.
Jumping is the real hazard. A startled shoal will leave the tank through any gap, and that's the commonest way people lose them.
Fish crashing into the glass repeatedly means the group is too small or the tank too short, not that anything is wrong medically.
Breeding
Pearl danios spawn readily and are a classic first breeding project.
They scatter eggs over a substrate in the morning after a fast chase and eat every one they can reach. A layer of marbles, a mesh floor, or a thick mat of fine-leaved plants is what saves the clutch.
Condition the adults on live food, put them in a shallow spawning tank, and remove them once eggs are down. The fry hatch quickly, are easy to feed on infusoria then microworm, and grow fast.
Tank mates
Avoid8
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid grows to 15 cm against Pearl Danio at 6 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid grows to 15 cm against Pearl Danio at 6 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Least Killifish Pearl Danio grows to 6 cm against Least Killifish at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Scarlet Badis Pearl Danio grows to 6 cm against Scarlet Badis at 2 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Demasoni Cichlid Demasoni Cichlid is not safe with Pearl Danio: african cichlids and danios / whiteclouds / medakas are a bad pairing.
Only with care17
- Chinese Algae Eater Chinese Algae Eater is aggressive and Pearl Danio is peaceful.
- Agassiz's Dwarf Cichlid Pearl Danio and Agassiz's Dwarf Cichlid are an uneasy mix: danios / whiteclouds / medakas and sth american cichlids - dwarf are a pairing to watch.
- Bala Shark Bala Shark is a risk to Pearl Danio: danios / whiteclouds / medakas and sharks are a pairing to watch.
- Bolivian Ram Pearl Danio and Bolivian Ram are an uneasy mix: danios / whiteclouds / medakas and sth american cichlids - dwarf are a pairing to watch.
- Cockatoo Cichlid Pearl Danio and Cockatoo Cichlid are an uneasy mix: danios / whiteclouds / medakas and sth american cichlids - dwarf are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 81 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 2 species are not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.