An efficient, largely piscivorous, predator with highly protrusible mouthparts. In the aquarium, juveniles can be offered chironomid larvae (bloodworm), small earthworms, chopped prawn, and suchlike, while adults will accept strips of fish flesh, whole prawns, mussels, live river shrimp, larger earthworms, etc. Older individuals do not require feeding on a daily basis, with 2-3 times per week sufficient.

The massive decline in wild populations, hypothesised to be in excess of 90% since the mid-1980s, is thought to have been caused by a variety of factors, including habitat alteration due to construction of dams and other infrastructure, removal of riparian vegetation, and urban pollution, plus over fishing for both human consumption and the aquarium trade.

Apparently restricted to the southern portion of New Guinea, between the Lorentz River in Papua province, Indonesia, and Kikori River in Gulf province, Papua New Guinea. The majority of records pertain to the lower Fly River basin in Western province, southwestern Papua New Guinea.

This species has not yet entered the aquarium trade but is maintained by a handful of private collectors.

Though described in 2012 it was in fact first collected in the latter half of the 19th century with Day (1875-1878) having mentioned the presence of Badis dario in ‘Wynaad’ and its occurrence “along the Western Ghats” (the chain of mountains in southwestern India).

This species was referred to as Dario sp. ‘Jaintia Hills’ or D. sp. ‘Bangladesh’ prior to its description.

Type locality is ‘India, Meghalaya, Jaintia Hills, Seinphoh stream at Umolong, 7 km from Jowai town, 25°31’36’’N 92°08’27’’E, 1320 m asl’, and in India it has not been found elsewhere to date.

This species has not appeared in the ornamental fish trade to date though has been maintained by a handful of private collectors and enthusiasts.

It was known for some years prior to description and identified as Badis dario (as Dario dario was known at the time) but is actually much closer to D. hysginon.

Like most badids B. pyema is poorly documented in aquarium literature and has yet to find significant popularity in the hobby, though given its restricted natural distribution it is unlikely ever to be available in large numbers and has only been collected on three occasions to date. It has a very slender body shape, likely an adaptation to its habitat, and in this respect is similar to B. kyar. However B. kyar possesses relatively solid dark, uniform vertical bars on the flanks whereas in B. p…

This fish has yet to appear in the aquatic trade and only been exported in extremely limited numbers to date. Specimens collected from the Wahumiam River close to the settlement of Shella Bholaganj by Peter Cottle and Andrew Rao in 2006 were initially considered an undescribed species and referred to as B. sp.'Wahumiam River' or B. sp. 'terracotta', but later found to match B. tuivaiei in terms of morphology, meristics, etc. (S. van der Voort, pers. comm.).

This species is essentially unknown in the hobby at time of writing. It was discovered by German aquarist Horst Linke in early 2010 and before official description was known as B. sp. ‘East Myanmar’ (‘Ost Myanmar’ in Germany). It can be differentiated from other members of the genu…

This fish first became available to hobbyists in 2005 and has also been referred to as Dario sp. ‘pyjamas’ or ‘fire red tiger badis’.

Despite the striking differences in colour pattern it’s officially recognised as a colour form of D. hysginon as per Kullander and Britz (2002) although D. sp. ‘Myanmar’ is now known to have an appreciably larger adult size (S. van der Voort, pers. comm.).