Checkered Barb

Care at a glance

Overview

Keep them in a shoal of six or more in a tank from about 60 liters. They are peaceful, busy fish that favor the middle and lower water. Feed a mix of quality flake, micro-pellets, and the odd frozen treat like daphnia or brine shrimp. They are hardy and undemanding, which makes them an easy community barb that does not harass tankmates the way some barbs do.

In the wild

Checkered barbs come from slow rivers and streams on Sumatra, in shaded, plant-heavy water that is soft and slightly acidic to neutral. A planted tank with some cover and dim, gentle conditions suits them. They take a fairly wide temperature range, from the low 20s up to the mid 20s C.

Good to know

This is a small cyprinid, family Cyprinidae, reaching about 4.5 cm. It was long placed in Puntius and now sits in the genus Oliotius. They are egg scatterers that drop eggs among fine-leaved plants and give no parental care. The checkerboard pattern of dark scales along the body is the easy way to ID them.

Did you know

Males get noticeably more colorful as they mature and during spawning, taking on a reddish wash over the body and fins, while females stay plainer and rounder. Keep a few of each and the males will display and spar in a harmless way that brings out their best color.

Related species

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