Harlequin Rasbora

The Irreplaceable Roommate to Tame and Sedate Touchy and Shy Cichlids (The famous Reassuring Anti-Stress Dither Fish):

An expert aquarist buys Harlequin Rasboras not only to enjoy them, but to make the other exotic very expensive unobtainable fearful unhappy tenants happy. The wonderful South American Dwarf Cichlids, frogs, or very shy expensive asocial Gouramis live on the bottom hating to move always believing the ravenous flying bird of prey or amphibian arrives in nature. But as soon as you insert over their heads the implacable coppery cloud of the stupid and perpetually active peaceful happy safe and lively Harlequin Rasboras, the shy animals will think: "Hey, if those stupid little fishes swim beautifully exposed without peaceful problems in the sunlight... then there are no imminent dangers and fatal mortal predators lurking around here!" They will all come out serene confident brave blissful finally enjoying themselves happy brazen and proud exploring the whole panorama of the tank without hiding terrified perpetually antisocial.

Loneliness Leads to Faded Visual Collapse (Death by Missing School):

Being so resilient they forgive the chemical errors of beginners and the disaster of the water change, but they will NEVER forgive the failure to buy a real school. If out of greed or ignorance you put 3 poor Rasboras in the tank, the poor isolated fish will go into extreme prey paranoia. Their magnificent metallic pink will completely disappear turning them into anonymous and dull light grey little fishes that will spend their lives still frightened in the shadow behind the filter or holed up ground level suffering, without ever enjoying and exploiting the free space. Buy the indispensable minimum of 8 (15 is the ideal goal to enjoy the real breathtaking natural spectacle).

Slow Surface Meal (Upper Funnel Mouth):

You will have noticed looking well in their face that the little mouth is cut upwards and is flat on the head. This is because in nature they are born to graze small fallen drowned trapped insects on the water surface in the peat bogs or eat micro-worms in the very first layer near the air. Their perfect meal is a good tiny dry flake that does not sink like a stone. If you give them heavy and large round granular pellets that fly to the bottom straight as bullets, the Rasbora will disdain to rummage in the dust on the ground and you will find the rotting sand of ignored leftovers clogging the tank.

The Reproductive Acrobatic Paradox Under the Broad Round Leaf (Upside Down):

If you grow thick plants with broad and hard leaves (like the old large *Cryptocoryne* or *Anubias*) you might witness early in the morning an absurd unimaginable gymnastic miracle: The female flanks the male, turns upside down belly up turning incredibly upside down in reverse and crawls rubbing under the roof of the large shady leaf, sticking tiny invisible sticky eggs upside down, instead of foolishly throwing them at random in the water at the mercy of the current like the silly species of the South American river do!.