Indian Glass Fish

COMMON NAME: Indian Glassfish.

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Chanda ranga.

DESIGNATION: Tropical, but can tolerate upper end of the coldwater range.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: Burma, India and Thailand.

SIZE: Around 6 cm (2.5 in).

WATER PREFERENCES: Hard, alkaline water with up to three teaspoonfuls of salt pergallon. Temperature: 18-25°C (64-77°F). A little higher for breeding.

DIET: Some dry foods accepted, but live foods preferred.

BREEDING: Eggs are scattered among fine-leaved vegetation, often after/if the tank receives morning sunshine. There is no parental protection of the eggs, which hatch out in one day.

DESCRIPTION: C. ranga is a somewhat timid species which should not be kept with boisterous tank mates.

Indian Glass Fish Information

• The fish is so named because of its translucent flesh.
• Though a community fish but it shy to a great extent. It would rather prefer to be hiding amidst the aquarium plants. The fish is a shoaling variety but are not quire aggressive towards others.
• The fish is of shy nature but it can turn out to be quite bold and active at certain times. While rearing the fish make sure you keep at least five to six number of fish together.
• For many aquarists the fish is quite difficult to be raised as they can hardly remain alive for a long period of time. Most think that the fish require brackish water to survive. But the fish in wild is actually found in the stagnant water bodies that comprises of water that come from dammed mountains and similar type of brackish water. The fish is not found in the estuaries. So, for rearing the fish successfully one has to maintain the water conditions that are similar to that of its wild habitat. Under the ideal water conditions the fish can turn out to be quite hardy and would be as easy as of rearing tetras.
• Not much has been known about the breeding of the fish in captivity. But successful breeders claim that to breed the fish one has to bring up the temperature of the water up to 85 degree F and must be given to eat a highly protein rich diet to eat. The fish mainly breeds during the monsoon season.
• Though the fish is devoid of any type of pigmentation but many a times in order to enhance the physical beauty of the fish they are often injected with coloring pigmentation with florescent color. In the aquarium such dyed fish look wonderful with flu recent light effect. But the artificial pigmentation of the fish is actually not healthy for the fish. Those fish do not live long and they are also prone to many types of diseases.