Medaka Kohaku 3cm

Medaka Kohaku

Medaka, also known as ricefish, is quickly rising to be a popular aquarium fish. These adorable nano fish are incredibly hardy, cold-water tolerant, and come in an assortment of colours through the art of selective breeding. They would be an ideal beginner fish because of these reasons, and are even kept in outdoor ponds in the colder regions of Australia, all year round.

The kohaku medaka are named after the kohaku pattern seen in koi fish, where they have a white body with a red circle on the head area. In these ricefish, they have a generally white or cream body with a deep orange patch around the head and tail area. The body shape itself is very easily comparable with the tropical guppy however, the Medaka is far more underrated and in most cases much more beginner-friendly!

The kohaku medaka will max out at a size of 4cm. Much like their beautiful colours these fish also have a beautiful, peaceful personality and would be really different addition to any community aquarium. Telling the difference between males and females is difficult in medaka as they do not have any immediate distinguishing factors. When breeding, though the female will carry her eggs on the outside of her body for a short time until the male fertilises them, she will then attach them to a soft or leafy surface, which is a truly unique behaviour to these fish. Wild medaka can be found in the cold rivers of Japan.

Tank Recommendations for your Medaka Kohaku

The kohaku medaka is a very active little fish and would be fine in a tank that is 40 litres. A larger aquarium would be ideal as these fish do best kept in groups, and the larger volume will allow for other tank mates.

These fish are not fussy at all when it comes to the substrate, but will really love a densely planted aquarium. This would also ensure that if the fish end up highly likely breeding, the fry have a good chance at surviving.

A really great aquarium setting for these fish would be to have a black tank background, bright green plants, and an aquarium light with an increased yellow spectrum will really showcase the head spot of this medaka strain.

Suitable Tank Buddies

The kohaku medaka is a very peaceful species that is best suited to be kept with small community fish.

Usually Compatible

Small community fish like neon tetras, ember tetras, or rasboras, and even livebearers like guppies.

Sometime Compatible

Anabantoid species such as bettas, gouramis, and species of a similar sort. These species offer a risk of predating on small medaka or outcompeting them.

Rarely Compatible

Aggressive species such as convict cichlids or kribensis, which will certainly end up preying on the medaka

Feeding your Medaka kohaku

The kohaku medaka, much like most small aquarium fis,h is very easy to feed. They are an opportunistic surface feeder and will take a wide range of prepared aquarium foods.

Their diet should contain good quality micro floating pellets with frozen food that has a high protein, such as bloodworm, brine shrimp, and daphnia. This feeding can simply occur once a day.