Cherry Barb - In Progress

[Pac-Man]

~SUBMIT~

Common Name: Cherry Barb
Scientific Name: Barbus titteya (also: Puntius titteya, Barbus Frenatus)
Distribution: Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia - Kelani to Niwala basins.
Habitat: Heavily shaded, slow moving streams found in the plains of Sri Lanka
Size: To 2 inches
Diet: Omnivorious; Flake food, small live and frozen foods, vegetables (blanched cucumber and zucchinni). Mine like to munch on the green algae I have in my tank. They also go absolutley crazy for bloodworms.
Tank Layout: There should be alot of cover, preferably making the tank bottom darker. These fish prefer shade and cover in their native home. Foilage along the edges of the tank is good, with some free swimming space in the middle of the tank.
Tank Size: A bare minumum of 10 gallons. A bigger tank size is often preached for this barb, because of its active nature.
Tank Zone: Mostly the middle of the tank, but I have obseved my barbs investigating the top of the tank, and even scavenging the bottom of the tank for fallen food.
Temperament: Peaceful for the most part. My male occasionally chases the other females around, but nothing drastic. They don't school as tightly as some of the other barbs. Because of this, cherry barbs are good candidates to be kept in pairs. These fish have shown no aggression to other fish and invert species I have kept them with them in the past.
Lifespan: 5 years
Chemistry:
-pH: 6.5 to 7.5
-Hardness:4 to 18 dGH
Temperature:73-79 degrees F (23-26 degrees C)
Sensitivities:Prone to bloat (See below: Other Notes)
Hardiness: Hardy. They survived my tank's initial break-in period (cycle) with the added help of Seachem's Stability.
Physical Description: In both sexes a black horizontal stripe runs through the middle of the fishs' body. The cherry barb also sports barbels like other cyprinids. The finnage of the cherry barb is a transluscent red (males have a darker red finnage than females), and its tail is of a concave shape.
Sexes: The males turn a bright red color during spawning season, and when they mature. The females are a lighter tan color, and usually are broader than the males. Males and females both have a stripe that runs horizontally across their body, but the stripe has a greater contrast on the paler females. The females also have a light brown-gold stripe that runs above the dark stripe that they have in common with the males.
Activity Peak: Diurnal
Habits: My barbs don't seem to interact with each other very much; they stick mostly to themselves. They are a very interactive species with the outside environment, however. I am always greeted by a little group of cherry barbs at the edge of the tank wall whenever I sit down to watch them or I am getting ready to feed them.
Spawning Notes: To provide optimal spawning conditions provide water with a temperature from 74 degress F to 79 degrees F, hardness to 12 dGH, and a pH from 6.0 to 6.5. One to three eggs are laid at a time, and be sure to remove the fish once they have finished spawning as they are notorious egg eaters. The eggs will hatch in 24 hours and become free swimming after 2 days. The eggs are attached on strands to plants, so vegetation is a must.
Personal Experiences and Observation: I often watch my barbs as they swim in and out of the vegetation that I have in my tank. For this reason I say that plants are a big plus when keeping these fish. They seem to enjoy weaving in and out of the plants, and I also find them scavenging for food on and around the plants after a feeding.
Other Notes: Be sure to wet the food thoroughly when feeding them floating food such as flakes, preferably makng the food sink below the surface. I have found that when my barbs hit the surface too much to retrieve food, they become bloated and start to float towards the surface uncontrollably. Although this has always gone away in my fish and never proved fatal, I certainly wouldn't risk it.

Female Cherry Barb:


Male Cherry Barb:

[Fishfirst]

welcome back pac-man and thanks for posting a profile

[Pac-Man]

What do you guys think of it so far? Im still trying to get better pictures, but is there anything that needs to be added?

Edit: I got better pics, my own so no copyright worries. If no one has anything wrong with it, It might be ready to submit.

[TheOldSalt]

I think so too. This is really good. Nice job!

[Pac-Man]

Thanks!

[TheOldSalt]

Bumping to current

[Ringo]

Originally Posted by Pac-Man

Habits: My barbs don't seem to interact with each other very much; they stick mostly to themselves.

My cherry barbs (7 total) always stay together in a somewhat tight school.
These guys are defintely schoolers if there are enough of them in a tank, if there are only 3-4 in the tank they won't school. But if there are many they will school.
Not much of a pairing fish. For the males will get on females nerves, or males with get on the other males nerves, but 2 females seem to be fine together.
So ime the only one than can pair are the females.
Not saying every cherry barb are like mine, BuT I do notice whenever I go to a lfs and look at their cherry barbs they usually are always in a school and few seem to stray from it.
Also a 10G is pretty small for these dudes, they can live in one no problem but there very active.
Cherry barbs like to claim an area of the tank, and can't really claim anything in a 10G.

Just thought I'd point out....

[lochness]

I have 7 as well and agree with Ringo with regards to their schooling/shoaling behaviour - they are almost like Felines of the Fish world - independent yet do enjoy the company of others on THEIR terms - that said, the profile is excellent pac (and I sympathise on the photo-taking sessions of these lil guys lol)

[TheOldSalt]

There should probably also be a mention of how this fish is pretty much extinct in the wild now, so keeping and breeding it is important for the survival of this species.

[Pac-Man]

Thanks for all the comments guys. Ill get around to editing it...but is it ever going to be posted anyhow?

All the stuff Ive read suggests they don't really school that tightly? Maybe the barbs feel threatened, my tank is heavily planted. Also notice what I said on my tank requirement. 10 MINIMUM, bigger size often preached.

[Ringo]

I would at least try to bump it up to 20G for the minimum.
The bigger the tank, the tighter they'll school. So really it all depends on what size tank they are in, but still they school.

[lochness]

feel free to use these photos - were the only usable ones out of oh.. 50 LOL

Female


Male

[lochness]

Originally Posted by TheOldSalt

There should probably also be a mention of how this fish is pretty much extinct in the wild now, so keeping and breeding it is important for the survival of this species.

wow I did not know this Salt! I just recently began breeding them (accidentally since they are in my main 90g and not in a specific breeding tank) Thanks for the info!