The Danionins are small
minnow-type fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae, mostly in the genera Danio and
Devario (Some species were previously in the
genus formerly known as Brachydanio). They are
native to the fresh waters of southeast Asia, but many species are brightly coloured, and are
available as
aquarium fish worldwide. Danios tend to have
horizontal stripes and long barbels, Devarios tend to
have vertical bars and short rudimentary barbels, if barbels
are present at all. A number of the species have only been
recently discovered, in remote inland areas of
Laos and
Myanmar and do not yet have scientific names. The phrase
Danionins is used to describe all the Danio species
which include fish within the genera Danio,
Devario, Chela, Esomus, Inlecypris,
Parachela and probably also Danionella,
Microrasbora and Sundadanio.
Tanichthys is often regarded as a Danionin however
there is no scientific basis for this. The Danionins can be
classed as a subfamily Danioninae which is
increasingly gaining credibility as a distinct subfamily
from Rasboriniae within the
Cyprinidae family.
All Danionins are egg scatters and breed in the rainy
season in the wild. They are generally active swimmers
occupying the top half of a tank and are carnivores, living
on insects and small crustaceans in the wild, although they
will eat just about any type of aquarium food. They will
not, however, generally eat plants or algae.
Although boisterous and liable to chase each other and
other fish, they are good community fish and will not
generally attack each other or other fish, although they
occasionally nip fins, more by accident than design and
will, like most fish, eat eggs and any fish small enough to
fit into their mouths.
They are best kept in a tank long enough for their active
swimming, preferably with a current from a power filter (or
at least airstone) as they often live in fast flowing
streams in the wild. Generally this also results in them
being sub tropical with temperatures of 20 to 22 degrees
Celsius (low seventies degrees Fahrenheit) often being fine, however they are
good jumpers and a tight fitting lid is recommended.
Since 2004 many new Danionins have been discovered which
do not yet have scientific names and many other species,
previously known only to the scientific fraternity have
become available in Aquarist Shops. This has predictably led
to total confusion as to the naming of some fish, with some
species having up to five different common names in use and
some common names bein used for up to four different
species. As a result all Danionin common names known to be
in use are listed on a separate page:
Species, listed in order of
scientific name, categorised by genus
Danios
The species remaining in the Danio genus comprise
most of the Danionins familiar to aquarists. They have two
pairs of long barbels and are generally characterised by
horizontal stripes (with the exception of the Glowlight
Danio and Black Barred Danio which have vertical bars. In
size they range from 4 cm/ 1.75 in) to 15 cm/ 6 in).
Frequently used common names are given for reference,
however if the common name you are looking for does not
appear, click on it on the section above for more details
The Devarios comprise some Danionins familiar to
aquarists. Generally (but not all) larger fish than
Danios, they have short barbels (if present at all) and
generally have deeper bodies than Danios with species
having vertical stripes present (as well as horizontal). In
size they range from 5 cm/ 2 in) to 15 cm/ 6 in).
Little is known about the following Devario
species, however there is some information about them at the
Fishbase Devario index(Fishbase: Ed. Ranier Froese and
Daniel Pauly. July 2005 version)
Not strictly speaking a Danionin but widely regarded as
one, this genus has its own Wikipedia page. Click on
Tanichthys for more information about these fish.
A genus closely related to Devario comprising two
smallish barred fish from Lake Inle in
Myanmar.
Inlecypris jayarami
Inlecypris auropurpurea
Other Danionin genera
The following genera of tiny fish are thought to be
Danionins closely related to Danio and Esomus,
but too little is known about them to confirm this.
Danionella
A genus comprising two tiny, recently discovered fish,
Danionella translucida is the smallest known
freshwater fish
Danionella mirifica (1.4 cm/ 0.75 in)
Danionella translucida (1.1 cm/ 0.5 in)
Several other as yet unnamed Danionella species have
very recently been discovered.
Microrasbora
The genus name means "small Rasbora", however these fish
appear to be more closely related to the danios than
rasboras. There has been speculation that
Microrasbora erythromicron may be transferred to the
Danio genus but this now seems unlikely
A genus with only one fish within, the genus was created
after the axelrodi species was transferred from the Rasbora.
Axelrodi resembles a tiny Rasbora
Sundadanio axelrodi
Danionins renamed or wrongly
identified
The following genera that previously described
certain danionins are no longer valid:
Allodanio
Brachydanio
Danioides
Daniops
Eustira
Parabarilius
Paradanio
Rambaibarnia
All Devario species were formerly in the
genus Danio. In addition Devario acuticephala,
Devario shanensis and Devario sondhii were also regarded at one time
as being in the former genus Brachydanio
Certain fish were formerly described within Danionin
genera and subsequently moved to their correct genus.
Where such fish were moved to the genus: Achielognargus,
Acanthorhodeus, Barilius, Opsarius, Oxygaster,
Paralaubuca, Rhodeus, Salmostoma & Securicula, such fish are not now deemed to be Danionins.
Allodanio ponticulus, now renamed
Barilius ponticulus
Aphyocypris pooni, "Garnet", now deemed a
synonym of
Tanichthys albonubes (White Cloud Mountain
Minnow)
Brachydanio acuticephala, now renamed Devario
acuticephala
Brachydanio albolineatus, , now renamed Danio
albolineatus (Pearl Danio)
Brachydanio choprae, now renamed Danio choprai (Glowlight
Danio)
Brachydanio frankei, now deemed a subspecies of Danio
rerio (Danio rerio var frankei)
Brachydanio jayarami, now renamed Inlecypris jayarami
Brachydanio kerri, now renamed Danio kerri (Blue danio)
Brachydanio nigrofasciatus, now renamed Danio
nigrofasciatus (Spotted Danio),
Brachydanio pulcher, now deemed a subspecies of Danio
albolineatus (Danio abolineatus var pulcher)
Brachydanio rerio, now renamed Danio rerio (Zebra Danio),
Brachydanio shanensis, now renamed Devario shanensis
Brachydanio sondhii, now renamed Devario sondhii
Brachydanio tweediei, now deemed a subspecies of Danio
albolineatus (Danio abolineatus var tweediei)
Danio aeqipinnulus, now deemed a synonym of Devario
aequipinnatus (Giant Danio)
Danio albolineata, now deemed a synonym of Danio
albolineatus (Pearl Danio)
Danio analipunctatus, now deemed a synonym of Danio
nigrofasciatus (Spotted Danio)
Danio deyi, now deemed a synonym of Danio dangila (Moustached
Danio)
Danio interrupta, now deemed a synonym of Devario
interruptus
Danio jayarami, now renamed Inlecypris jayarami
Danio lineatus, now deemed a synonym of Danio rerio
(Zebra Danio)
Danio lineolatus, now deemed a synonym of Devario
aequipinnatus (Giant Danio)
Danio menglaensis, now renamed Opsarius koratensis
Danio menoni, now renamed Chela laubuca
Danio micronema, now deemed a synonym of Devario
malabaricus (Malabar Danio)
Danio monshiensis, now renamed Barilius monshiensis,
Danio ponticulus, now renamed Barilius ponticulus
Danio rheinarddti, now renamed Rhodeus rheinardti
Danio salmonatus, now deemed a synonym of Devario
salmonata
Danio stoliczae, now deemed a synonym of Danio
albolineatus (Pearl Danio)
Daniops myersi, now renamed
Devario laoensis
Devario chankaeinsis, Khanka Spiny Bitterling, now
renamed Achielognargus chankaeinsis
Devario asmussii Russian Bitterling, now renamed
Acanthorhodeus Asmussii
Chela anastoma, now deemed a synonym of Chela
cachius
Chela anomalurus, now renamed Oxygaster anomalura
Chela argentea, now deemed a synonym of Salmostoma
acinaces
Chela atpar, now deemed a synonym of Chela cachius
Chela bacaila, now renamed Salmostoma bacaila
Chela barroni, now renamed Paralaubuca barroni
Chela boopis, now deemed a synonym of Salmostoma boopis
Chela clupeoides, now deemed a synonym of Salmostoma
balokee
Chela dadidurjori, now deemed a synonym of Chela
dadiburjori
Chela dadyburjori, now deemed a synonym of Chela
dadiburjori
Chela dadydurjori, now deemed a synonym of Chela
dadiburjori
Chela diffusa, now deemed a synonym of Salmostoma
acinaces
Chela fasciatus, now deemed a synonym of Chela fasciata
Chela horai, now renamed Salmostoma horai
Chela hypophthalmus, now renamed Chela hypophthalmus
Chela gora, now renamed Securicula gora
Chela johorensis, now deemed a synonym of Parachela
oxygastroides
Chela maassi, now deemed a synonym of Chela maasi
Chela maculicauda, now renamed Parachela maculicauda
Chela megalolepsis, now deemed a synonym of Parachela
oxygastroides
Chela mouhoti, now deemed a synonym of Chela
caeruleostigmata
Chela nicholsi, now deemed a synonym of Paralaubuca
sinensis
Chela oxygaster, now deemed a synonym of Oxygaster
anomalura
Chela oxygastroides', now deemed a synonym of Parachela
oxygastroides
Chela panjabensis, now deemed a synonym of Salmostoma
punjabensis
Chela phulo, now renamed Salmostoma phulo
Chela punjabensis, now renamed Salmostoma punjabensis
Chela pointoni, now renamed Oxygaster pointoni
Chela quangbinhensis, now renamed Devario quangbinhensis
Chela sardinella, now renamed Salmostoma sardinella
Chela siamensis, now renamed Parachela siamensis
Chela sladoni, now renamed Salmostoma sladoni
Chela stigmabrachium, now renamed Paralaubuca
stigmabrachium
Chela teekanee, now deemed a synonym of Salmostoma
balokee
Chela untrahi, now renamed Salmostoma untrahi
Inlecypris auropurpureus, now renamed
Inlecypris auropurpurea
"Danio".
FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly.
July 2005 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2005.
"Danio." ITIS Standard Report. (Integrated
Taxonomic Information System: National Museum of Natural
History, Washington, D.C., 2004-04-28).
ITIS 163695
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