Taxonomy & naming
Kullander and Britz described Dario hysginon in 2002, in the same revision that split Badis into many species and set up Dario for the smallest ones. The type locality is a stream in Kachin State, Myanmar, in the Irrawaddy River drainage. The genus Dario holds the miniature badids that stay below about 1.5 in.
Morphology
A miniature badid. FishBase gives a maximum length of 1 in and does not state whether that is standard or total length. Males are the more strongly coloured sex and carry red markings that the name refers to.
Habitat
FishBase lists the habitat as freshwater and benthopelagic, and gives Myanmar as the range. The type locality is a small stream called Nan Kywe Chaung in the Mogaung area of Kachin State. Water temperature, pH and hardness are not recorded for the species.
Feeding
Diet has not been described for this species in FishBase. Related Dario take live microfauna such as copepods, newly hatched brine shrimp and other small live foods, and Dario hysginon is kept on the same food.
Mating
Courtship and spawning behaviour are not described for this species in FishBase.
Breeding
FishBase gives no information on eggs or clutch size. The species is not documented as a regular aquarium spawner in the sources available to the atlas.
In the aquarium
Keep it in a small, quiet, planted tank with plenty of cover and no boisterous tank mates, since anything larger than a small rasbora will outcompete it for food. Offer live or frozen small foods, and expect it to refuse dry flake. Tiny badids do best in mature tanks where microfauna builds up on its own.
Conservation
The IUCN Red List classes Dario hysginon as Least Concern, last assessed in March 2010. Its range is a small part of northern Myanmar.