Despite being a wholly unsuitable aquarium subject, C. idella is often traded as such, with an albino form having been developed specifically for the ornamental market.

Individuals which have outgrown their aquarium or pond should never be released into natural waters, either, since this species has proven capable of causing serious environmental damage under a wide range of climatic conditions.

This species appears to exist in a number of different forms which exhibit differences in colour pattern, morphology, or both, and it’s currently unclear whether all of them are truly conspecific or not although to avoid confusion we list all together here.

It can be diagnosed as follows: <30 lateral scales; two black body bands reaching ventral midline posterior to anal-fin; band above anal-fin also reaching ventral midline no black band on head, though the first band may touch the posterior margin of the eye; band above anal-fin not reaching ventral midline; 6 branched anal-fin rays; 7-8 predorsal scales. Brachygobius currently contains 9 described species but is likely to prove more diverse should a review be carried out. Alt…

This species is not often seen in the aquarium hobby but occasionally exported as bycatch among shipments of other fishes. It was described as a subspecies of the closely-related ‘P.‘ binotatus but is currently considered distinct on a tentative basis as per Ng and Tan (1999) who stated it is ‘likely’ that the two represent extreme colour forms of a single, variably-patterned species.

Native to parts of southern Borneo, eastern Sumatra, Singapore, and the Malay Peninsula. In Singapore it’s considered highly-endangered and is now restricted to the Central Catchment nature reserve.

Type locality is ‘Tuluk and Gunung Sahilan, Sumatra, Indonesia’ which appears to correspond to localities within the Kampar River drainage of which the former is now known as Teluk Meranti and is o…

N. selangoricus is most similar to N. spiniferus since it possesses acuminate scales above and below the lateral line on the caudal peduncle, a feature not shared with any other congener. It can however be distinguished by the following characters: presence of 8-12 very regular dark bars on flanks (vs. 10-13 irregularly-shaped bars in N. spiniferus), 3-5 times…

The genus Barbonymus was erected by Kottelat in 1999 and contains former members of Barbodes from southeast Asia. The type species is B. schwanenfeldii and currently there exist only three other representatives; B. altus, B. collingwoodii and B. gonionotus.

The latter two are rare in the hobby although an SF member has kept B. gonionotus in the past so they are worth looking out for if you harbour an…

Patterning is highly variable depending both within and between populations and the species may comprise an assemblage containing a number of taxa (Kottelat and Lim, 1993; Tan and Kottelat, 2009). For example, those from Singapore and Johor possessing intricate mottling on the dorsal surface while individuals from Terengganu have a series of saddle-like markings either alternating or connecting with the midlateral markings.

This species is widely-distributed throughout Peninsular Thailand, Malaysia (Malay Peninsula plus the states of Sabah and Sarawak, Borneo), Singapore and Indonesia, with records from the Riau Archipelago, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Bali, Lombok, and Sulawesi existing in the latter. Type locality is ‘Panimbang River, Perdana, Indonesia’.

It’s typically found in coastal, normally brac…

This species is also sold as the ‘redline’ rasbora which is something of a misnomer as in reality the colour of the lateral stripe that gives rise to the name can vary from deep orange to golden depending upon the collection locality of the fish as well as diet, condition, and even mood. Some specimens also have a second, darkish stripe beneath the other which seems to vary in length and intensity depending on a similar array of factors. Older fish tend to possess a greater degree of black edging to the scales, especially in the ventral portion of the body.