Above: A nice young male premium quality Taiwan Bitterling swimming in one of our aquariums, when one of us snapped this picture.

Comments: This is a Premium Pet Fish, and we rarely see Premium Fish like this one in any of the live fish stores or in the online fish stores that we visit.

Premium Pet Fish are more energetic, hardier, and have brighter colors with a beautiful metallic sheen.

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Origin: This fish's ancestors lived in Taiwan and in a wide region in China, but now they live in aquariums all over the world.

Maximum Size: This fish can grow to be about 3" long, including the tail.

Behaviors: This is a schooling fish, and these guys are active and quarrel with each other but don't do much harm.

Compatibility: Some recommended tank mates include small fish like Guppies, Platys, Corydoras Catfish, Gouramis, Rainbowfish, etc.

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Temperature: They can live pretty well from about 65 to 75 degrees F., but they're probably most comfortable at about 70 to 72 degrees F.

Click here to learn about aquarium temperature, aquarium thermometers, and aquarium heaters.

Feeding: Premium Fish Food Flakes and Pellets.

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Water Conditions: This fish seems to be tolerant of a wide range of water conditions.

Probably a pH of about 7 to 8 with hard to moderately hard water is best.

Most water in the US seems to be OK, so it's probably best NOT to adjust the pH or the hardness of the water.

Here in our facilities the water is hard and the pH is usually about 7.8.

We ship them in this water.

Click here for a lot more information about aquarium water conditions.

Aquarium Size: It is probably best to house these fish in at least a 30-gallon tank, but bigger is better, because they quarrel a bit with each other.

Keep at most one fish per 2-gallons, when they're small, and one fish per 3-gallons, when they're larger.

Decor: They don't need gravel, and a layer of gravel more than 1/4" thick will usually fill with bits of uneaten food that will contaminate the water.

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Live Plants are beautiful, improve the water quality, and are enjoyed by these fish.

Aquarium Filter: Bio-Wheel Filters are highly recommended.

A Penguin 350B Filter in an aquarium with 30-gallons of water is just right for these fish.

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The addition of Lava Rocks will keep nitrates in the ideal range.

Click here to learn more about using Lava Rocks in aquariums.

Life Span: They'll probably live for a few years with good water and good food.

Gender: Mature males are more colorful, and mature females fill with eggs and become plumper.

Breeding: These fish are mussel-spawners, which means they need some type of freshwater mussel in the aquarium.

The female will insert her eggs into the mussel; the male will then fertilize the eggs in the mussel.

The eggs hatch inside the mussel, and in a few days the mussel will spit out the hatchlings.

This is not commonly seen in the aquarium hobby.

Popularity: This fish isn't very popular, because they aren't common, but they are very attractive and great in any community tank.

Names: The scientific name is Paracheilognathus himantegus.

Variations: We haven't seen any.

We hope you've enjoyed reading these comments.