Should I buy it?
Giant danio
Devario malabaricus
Also known as: malabar danio, Malabar danio
Fishori provides conservative planning guidance, not guarantees.
Based on multiple reputable aquarium care sources with strong agreement. Use the numbers here as planning defaults — your room, water, and routine still shape real-world outcomes.
An 11 cm fast schooling danio that needs real swim space. Beautiful in a large group in a long tank, and disruptive and stressful in anything under 150 cm.
Best for
Large community tanks 200L or more with a school of eight and robust mid-size companions.
Avoid if
Your tank is under 120 cm long, you keep nano fish, or you want a calm aquarium.
Top things that go wrong
- Mouth gap vs tiny tank mates. Predation risk toward smaller tank mates. The figure that matters is the adult mouth size against the adult prey length, not the juvenile sizes in the shop.
- Group welfare — not a solo display fish. Plan at least **6** together for normal behaviour; smaller groups often mean stress, colour loss, or nipping depending on species.
- Shrimp & snails. Shrimp: not safe. The fish will eat adult shrimp, shrimp fry, or both, depending on the size of the shrimp.
Common mistakeGiant danios in a 90L community with tetras. Their constant high-speed motion stresses every fish under 5 cm in the tank.
What most shops don't tell you
- 1.Predation risk scales with gape, night feeding, and crowding. 'They grew up together' is a schedule, not a law.
- 2.Classed peaceful for similar-sized community use. Still a bite-sized risk toward fry or very small community fish in small volumes.
- 3.Sold in tiny tanks as 'hardy danios' without planning for 25 to 30 cm or more of horizontal swim space for the group.
- 4.Mixed with slow long-finned fish in narrow tanks with poor swim-through routes.
- 5.Plan for 180 to 240 litres or more for an adult group. Secure lid. Feed varied foods and do not overstock the surface, or feeding frenzies turn into crashes.
About this species
Giant danios are 10 to 12 cm Indian cyprinids that need a long tank and a fast school. Peaceful with mid-sized community fish, but size plus food competition makes them unsafe with tiny nanofish long-term.
- Rainbow / red-tailed black shark200L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Rosy Barb180L min · same group, comparable tank size
- Denison's / red-line torpedo barb250L min · same group, similar adult size
- Denisons Barb250L min · same group, similar adult size
- Scissortail Rasbora150L min · same fish family
- Gold / Chinese barb120L min · same fish family
- Odessa Barb120L min · same group, similar adult size
- Banded leporinus300L min · same fish family
- African freshwater butterflyfishalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Black ruby barbalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Boesemani Rainbowfishalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Bolivian Ramalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Brown / hockey-stick pencilfishalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- Checkerboard cichlidalso intermediate peaceful, similar tank size
- African freshwater butterflyfish tank mateslists this fish as a safe and recommended mate
- Bala / silver shark tank mateslists this fish as a safe and recommended mate
- Banded leporinus tank mateslists this fish as a safe and recommended mate
- Black ghost knifefish tank mateslists this fish as a safe and recommended mate
- Denison's / red-line torpedo barb tank mateslists this fish as a safe and recommended mate
- Jaguar cichlid tank mateslists this fish as a safe and recommended mate
- Pictus catfish tank mateslists this fish as a safe and recommended mate
- Rainbow / red-tailed black shark tank mateslists this fish among its recommended pairings
Plan grid
Key limits are shown above; this section adds planning detail: pH band, swim level, bioload and activity, and the radar.
Swim zones
Planning trait chart
Six indices for comparing species on paper before you spend.
- Beginner ease32
- Peacefulness76
- Community fit73
- Small-tank fit90
- Hardiness54
- Energy86
Numbers are deterministic planning indices from Fishori fields — not a scientific score of your individual fish.
Common setup sketches
Conservative patterns from Fishori fields — still run the pair checker for every species you add; sketches are not a stocking guarantee.
Rough 200L+ layout: one calm centrepiece, 8–12 small tetras/rasboras, 6–8 corydoras-type bottom fish — verify every name in the pair checker before buying.
Safe directions on file include: Boesemani Rainbowfish, Denison's / red-line torpedo barb, Bala / silver shark.
Prioritise 6+ of Giant danio in 200L+ with filtration sized for messy feeding — add only mates that already pass pair checks with this species.
Tank mate intelligence
Use the "Often compatible" lists as a shortlist, not a stocking plan. Always run the pair tool and check the footprint of your actual tank first. Verify behaviour for Giant danio against your own reading before you buy.
Pair-level compatibility with this fish as anchor.
Read the blocking rule on each pair page before experimenting.
Do-not-stock combinations on conservative hobby rules.
Compare with
Run a real pair check: Giant danio + Boesemani Rainbowfish
Behaviour, temperament, and what to watch
Prose and lists come from the same record: read temperament first, then glass-level signals so you are not surprised after day three.
Giant danio is peaceful in mixed company. Treats any fish small enough to fit in its mouth as food. Mouth size at adult length matters, not the prey's listed adult size.
Stress / aggression triggers on file
- Sudden crowding
- Poor water quality
Fin nipping: Not a habitual fin-nipper, but individuals can still test fins under stress or in a crowded tank.
Predation: Predation risk toward smaller tank mates. The figure that matters is the adult mouth size against the adult prey length, not the juvenile sizes in the shop.
Territory: Not strongly territorial, but still claims a working area in the tank. Give it room to settle without overlapping the next species' patch.
Planted tanks: excellent — easy plant ideas
In the glass: typical and warning signs
- Busy at feeding time — expects food to hit the water predictably.
- Shoaling/schooling: most colour and confidence show when the group meets **6+**.
- Clamped fins, gasping at the surface, hiding non-stop, or refusing food after the first week.
- Rapid breathing when parameters swing — fix ammonia/nitrite first, then reassess mates.
- Low listed risk — still watch new introductions.
- Separate or rehome if injuries appear, one fish is pinned, or feeding becomes a daily chase.
- If water is stable but behaviour worsens, reduce stocking or remove the highest-impact species first.
Fish behaviour can vary between individuals and tank setups. Always observe new fish closely after introduction.
Care parameters: water, food, inverts, grouping
Chemistry and group rules sit here so you are not re-reading the same line from tank mate or temperament blocks. Swim level is in the plan grid above.
Hardness
medium
Diet
omnivore
Mixed diet: a quality flake or pellet as the staple, with frozen or live foods two or three times a week.
Shrimp & snails
Shrimp: not safe. The fish will eat adult shrimp, shrimp fry, or both, depending on the size of the shrimp.
Shoaling species. Buy 6 or more of one species together. Smaller schools sulk, lose colour, and redirect their schooling energy at whatever else is in the tank.
Egg scatterers and schoolers still spawn in stable tanks. Have a plan for the fry, or accept that the parents and tank mates will eat them in a community setup.
- Hold 18 to 26 °C steadily on a real thermometer, not the dial on the heater.
- Aim for pH 6 to 7.5 and a hardness you can re-test in two weeks. A one-time strip in the shop car park is not a water test.
- Schooling species. Buy 6 or more from the same tank on the same day before adding any centrepiece fish.
- Tank volume meets or exceeds 200L published minimum for adults.
- You can stock at least 6 individuals (group welfare).
- Heater can hold 18–26°C without cooking cooler-water tank mates.
- No known fin-nippers paired with long-finned fish unless you accept documented risk.
- No tank mates small enough to fit the adult mouth gap for this species.
Explore and stocking hubs
Same library as the rest of Fishori: tank-mate index for this species, category peers, guides, and litre-based stocking lists where min tank on file is within the hub volume.
Plan with tools
Pair-level rules and multi-fish stocking use the same conservative engine — add this fish in the tank builder only after mates pass pair checks.
Filtration & heating
A 200L minimum tank needs a filter rated for at least 800L/hr turnover and a heater to hold 18–26°C reliably.
Plant suggestions
Giant danio does well in planted tanks. Plants compatible with 18–26°C and pH 6–7.5:
Profile status: partially verified · Evidence tier: high · 3 linked source(s). Fishori does not fabricate citations.
Fishori uses conservative planning rules based on these sources.
Confidence is explained in the summary at the top of this page (same tier as here), not repeated below.
How Fishori evaluates compatibility (same logic as pair and tank tools).
- Seriously Fish. Devario malabaricus
Primary: aquarium size, water chemistry, behaviour, and compatibility (URL verified in upgrade script; recheck if site content changes).
- FishBase. Devario malabaricus
Secondary: taxonomy, distribution, and maximum length in nature; cross-check with aquarium import lines and measured tank parameters.
- Wikipedia. Devario malabaricus
Secondary: general species context; verify all husbandry numbers against a dedicated aquarium care sheet and your test kit, not a single table row.
Evidence notes
- The Seriously Fish profile for the binomial in this record was successfully reached as the primary aquarium reference.
- FishBase contributes natural-range size and habitat context. Translate those numbers through your heater, your water report, and your tank footprint before stocking.
- Wikipedia is only cited if the article URL returned OK. Use it for orientation, not as the only care sheet for an import.
- All compatibility text reflects typical hobby experience and the Fishori model. Individual fish, shop stress, and the order tank mates are added in can still defy a single-paragraph label.
- Fishori profiles work from typical aquarium trade sizes and hobby care norms. Specialist site checks and literature review for this species are not yet recorded here, so the ranges on this page are planning numbers rather than guarantees.