A Schooling Fish for the Aquarium and Pond!
The Taiwan (or Taiwanese) Bitterling (Paracheilognathus Himantegus) is fairly unique in that for many years, it had really only one common name. More recently, it has also been called the Algae Eating Blue Amur, but mostly only by the aquarium hobby. Even though it is called a Taiwanese bitterling, it also is widespread in China. This is a great fish for the home aquarium and does very well in ponds where it is excellent for mosquito larvae control as well as eating some common parasites on Koi. especially Anchor Worms. They are exceptionally cold hardy; some pond owners claim having no problems with overwintering them outdoors. This being said, we do not recommend attempting to overwinter them in very cold climates.
Keeping these Bitterlings is pretty straightforward as they are quite hardy. They like to be kept in groups, and we suggest a minimum of five, which means they will need at least a 20 gallon aquarium; more fish and bigger aquariums is almost always better. They also like a lot of flow, and dense habitat, be it planted or otherwise. A neutral to slightly alkaline pH profile is appreciated. This peaceful schooling fish is a great choice for mid to high in your water column and will get along with most other community fish. Because of their penchant for eating larvae, worms, and parasites and so forth, fish with ornamental flowy fins may get nipped at. Also because of this varied diet, they are remarkably easy to feed, generally very boisterously taking just about any processed or thawed offering you can give. We feed them a mix of flake, very small floating pellets and a mix of black & red worms with great success.
When young, Taiwanese bitterlings resemble hatchet bodied tetras, both in activity and appearance. As they grow they will deepen in color and get to a max size of around three and a half inches. At some point a hobbyist should start being able to tell the difference in the sexes, as males will be comparatively more colorful, while females will be more physically robust. That being said, even if you can start to differentiate them, breeding them in home aquariums has been challenging for most hobbyists because there is the possibility that Taiwans require a freshwater mussel to reproduce, as they they spawn into the mantle of the clam. Keeping freshwater mussels in filtered aquariums can be labor intensive depending on species.
If you are looking for a remarkable schooling species to add to your aquarium, or a perfect dithering fish for your ponds, look no further than the Taiwanese Bitterling. They are hardy, useful, peaceful and grow to a very appropriate size. They look just as great sharing space with big Koi in your pond as they do bringing excellent activity to the upper portions of your planted tank. If you are interested in getting some, just ask your LFS about getting you some from Aquatropic today!