Badis badis

I kept this species and the other two (B. assamensis and B. ruber) in identical conditions — in a 25 gallon (30″ x 18″ x 12″) tank with a few plants and several 2″ flowerpots turned on their sides. The fish ate a normal mix of dry food (probably tropical crisps) and frozen bloodworms; after not all that long the males would be holed up in a pot with eggs and fry.

Up until the fry were free-swimming these acted pretty much like tiny cichlids; the fry were mostly ignored after hatching though, no guarding like a cichlid would. A few fry survived amongst the adults in the original tank but it worked best to scoop out some fry or remove the adults from the tank to raise larger numbers.