Mad barb

Leptobarbus hoevenii

Also known as Hoven's carp, Sultan fish

FreshwaterFish

Mad barb (Leptobarbus hoevenii) — Zahar AZ · CC BY-SA 4.0

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–82°F (22–28°C)
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 23.6 in (60 cm)
Minimum tank: 317 gal (1,200 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Mekong and Sundaland rivers
Family: Cyprinidae

Overview

This is a peaceful but enormous schooling fish, sold as a lively little juvenile that grows to around 60 centimeters, the length of an arm. It is genuinely a shoaling species and wants company of its own kind, but a group of adults needs pond-scale space, so realistically this is a fish for very large custom systems or indoor ponds, not a standard tank. It is calm and community-safe with other big fish, but will eat small ones. Feed a varied omnivore diet with plenty of vegetable matter and fruit, pellets, and the occasional meaty item. Plan on 1,200 liters and up, really a pond, before taking one on.

In the wild

The mad barb cruises large rivers across the Mekong basin and the Greater Sunda Islands, moving into flooded forest to feed when the waters rise. It wants big, open, flowing water, so a suitable system needs robust filtration, strong current, and a lot of length. Keep it at 22 to 28 degrees Celsius, with a pH from 6.0 to 7.5. Clean, well-oxygenated water is essential for a fish this large and active.

Good to know

Leptobarbus hoevenii is a large cyprinid in the carp family, Cyprinidae, reaching about 60 centimeters. In Malaysia it is prized as the sultan fish, once reserved for royalty, and it is farmed as a food fish. Its aquarium breeding is not recorded, and its size makes it impractical to spawn outside commercial ponds. The odd common name comes from its habit of feeding on certain wild fruits and seeds.

Did you know

The name mad barb comes from what happens when it eats the seeds and fruit of certain toxic trees, such as chaulmoogra: the fish become disoriented and swim erratically, as if intoxicated, and can store the toxins in their flesh.