Description
Celestichthys choprae is a small danio that is native to small rocky streams in northern Myanmar, specifically from the Mogaung Chaug river system which feeds into the Ayeyarwaddy (Irrawaddy) river drainage. This danio, also called the glowlight danio, was introduced into the aquarium hobby in 2003, and has quickly become a favorite fish of many, and one look at it is enough to see why. The glowlight danio has a golden yellow base wash, with some dark, elongated spots on its side that are not quite vertical bands. Between these dark spots, this fish has a beautiful, glowing orange band, which gives this fish its common name. The fins on this fish are mostly clear, but they have a lot of yellow running through both the fin rays, as well as the wash of the fins on the bottom. In some specimens you can see a bold yellow stripe on the fins which is opaque, in contrast to the rest of the fins. All of these combine together to give the fish a soft but almost luminescent look, as if it is a lantern.
This nano danio prefers small streams, with not much water movement, and various sizes of rocks and sand scattered around. The water in the wild is often weakly acidic to weakly alkaline, and typically does not have a huge concentration of dissolved minerals. In the aquarium, you can expect them to do well in most any water parameters, as long as you keep the tank clean. Make sure that your filter is well cycled, and is ready to handle any excess waste you might produce. Although there are no plants to be found in its natural habitat, this diminutive fish often looks the best it possibly could in a densely planted tank in which it has a lot of space to hide in if it gets skittish, and setting up your aquarium in a hillstream style setup may be a great option for these guys. These fish also definitely appreciate some hardscape added to the tank in order to mimic their natural environment, with different size stones with lots of wood wedged in between would be closest to what they would naturally experience.
These fish can be added to a peaceful community aquarium, but do remember that they tend to stop growing right around one inch in length, so they cannot be added to tanks with much larger fish. They are also not the bravest fish, and can easily be outcompeted by other fish when you feed, so make sure that their tank mates are of a similar size and demeanor. If you have a hillstream tank set up, then maybe you can add some other fish that are found in a similar area, such as Stiphodon species, or other tiny fish, like the celestial pearl danio or the dwarf emerald rasbora. It would be a good idea to have something to clean up leftover food on the bottom of your tank as well, since these fish typically only eat food that is free floating in the water column. You should also make sure that you have a lid on your aquarium if you are keeping glowlight danios, as they are known to jump out of the tank. These schooling fish do not ship individually bagged.
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