Clown Rasbora

The clown rasbora should not be confused with the small dwarf clown rasbora. The true clown rasbora, Rasbora kalochroma, is one of the largest rasboras available to the aquarium trade. These fish grow to three and a half inches. Since the clown rasbora comes from low-pH black water, these are great schooling fish for discus and South American–themed tanks if you do not mind a little Asian diversity. Clown rasboras will not tolerate high-pH tanks, so they are not suitable for African cichlid tanks and water with a pH over 7.5. The clown rasbora is named for its deep red color with clownish harlequin black markings.

Quick Facts

Care Guide

Tank setup: These are active, fast swimmers, so give them open swimming space, plants along the back and sides, and a tight-fitting lid, since they can jump.

Feeding: Feed a quality flake or small pellet once or twice a day, only as much as they eat in a couple of minutes. They also enjoy frozen foods like bloodworms and brine shrimp.

Tankmates: They do well with other active, peaceful to semi-aggressive fish of similar size, such as barbs, larger tetras, danios, rainbowfish, gouramis and corydoras. Their speed can stress slow, long-finned fish.

Good to know: They are hardy, active schoolers that look best with open swimming space where the group can move together.