Fireline Danio
Devario sondhii
Danionidae
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About
Two Devario sit on the same shelf and they are not interchangeable. Devario malabaricus - the fish behind our giant danio entry - reaches 12 cm on FishBase's figures and gets a 120 x 45 cm base from Seriously Fish. Devario sondhii is half that fish: FishBase gives 6.5 cm SL, Maidenhead Aquatics 6.5 cm and Aquadiction about 6 cm. Confuse the two and you either buy a fish that outgrows the tank or you hand a small danio four feet of floor it does not need. The fireline danio is also a much later arrival - Aquadiction dates its introduction to the hobby to 2007, and AMAZONAS ran it as a species snapshot in 2015, in the wave of Shan State fishes that followed Myanmar's reforms. Where it comes from is worth a sentence, because it is a small place. Seriously Fish, describing the type locality of the celestial pearl danio - permanently flooded grassland formed by damming a spring for agriculture, water "only around 30cm deep, transparent" and thick with Hydrocharitaceae, at 1,040 m in the hills east of Taunggyi - lists what else lives there: "Sympatric species included Devario sondhii, a Microrasbora cf. rubescens, an undescribed Petruichthys species known to aquarists as the 'rosy' loach and Channa harcourtbutleri." That is the same water our celestial pearl danio entry describes, and it is cool, shallow, plant-choked and clear rather than a hill torrent. Maidenhead gives the species 18-25 °C and puts its range as "Myanmar: Southern Shan States and the Salween basin". The IUCN has it Data Deficient, assessed in 2010, and this page is marked medium confidence for that reason: there is no Seriously Fish profile for it, and the husbandry numbers come from two retail care sheets that agree with each other but not to the decimal. What you can see in the tank, in Aquadiction's description, is "a faint lateral stripe on the body extending into the caudal fin and a prominent cleithral spot behind the gill cover", silvery over the front and top of the body, reddish-orange along the lower rear, with orange shading in the tail - the fireline the name promises.
Care
A shoal of at least six; AMAZONAS says "keeping 10 to 12 is recommended to bring out natural social behaviors", and it is right. Length matters more than volume: neither care sheet puts a number on litres, so the 90 L we gate at is our own judgement, and 80-90 cm of base is what makes a group look like one. Well filtered, well oxygenated, with a real current - Maidenhead notes these fish "will swim against the current". Cool and unfussy water: Maidenhead gives 18-25 °C, pH 6.5-7.5 and dH up to 18, Aquadiction 20-26 °C and GH 5-12, so ordinary tap water suits it as long as it stays under the 18 dH Maidenhead allows. Plant the sides and back, leave the middle open. Two cautions from Maidenhead: this is a community fish "with no long-finned fish", and it should not be trusted with anything very small - so no betta, no fancy guppy, no shrimplets. Aquadiction adds a third, that they are "prone to bouts of skittish behaviour and may jump out of the aquarium, so a tight-fitting lid is necessary", and a fourth, that coming from pristine habitats they "should not be introduced to a biologically immature aquarium".
Diet
Omnivore and an eager one. Flake and micropellets as the staple, plus small frozen or live mosquito larvae, daphnia and brine shrimp.
Tankmate compatibility
Gets along with (220)
Possible with care (153)
Avoid (45)
Computed by the AquaSage engine for a spacious reference tank — always check the full verdict for your exact setup in the calculator.
Telling males from females
What works for this species, most reliable first.
- Belly depthA hint only · only on well-fed adults, and only as a comparison
For most tetras, barbs and rasboras this is all there is: a conditioned female is deeper through the belly than a male of the same length.
Also in these lists
Similar species
Same category and the closest water parameters — if this species isn't quite it, start here.
Sold in Lithuania
These Lithuanian shops listed this species in their public catalogue (checked August 8, 2026). Stock moves — ask before you travel.
These links are unpaid: we get nothing for them and ask for nothing.
Frequently asked questions
- What tank size does a Fireline Danio need?
- A Fireline Danio needs an aquarium of at least 90 litres (23.8 US gallons) with a footprint at least 80 cm (31.5 in) long — for this species, swimming length matters as much as raw volume.
- What water parameters does a Fireline Danio need?
- Fireline Danio does best at 18–26 °C (64.4–78.8 °F), pH 6–7.5 and a general hardness of 2–18 °dGH.
- What group size does a Fireline Danio need?
- Fireline Danio is a social species — keep a group of at least 6 so natural behaviour emerges and stress stays low.
- Is the Fireline Danio suitable for beginners?
- Yes — Fireline Danio is one of the easier species to keep and forgives typical first-tank mistakes, as long as the aquarium is cycled and maintained.