Red-tail silver shark

Hypselobarbus kurali

Also known as Kurali barb

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–82°F (22–28°C)
pH: 6.5–7.8
Adult size: 13.8 in (35 cm)
Minimum tank: 211 gal (800 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Difficult
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Western Ghats rivers, Kerala, India
Family: Cyprinidae

Overview

This is a big, fast river barb that behaves like a bala shark grown heavy, and it is a shoaling fish, so it wants numbers, a group of five or six or more, not a lone specimen. It powers up and down the middle of the tank all day and needs real length to turn, so think of a very large aquarium or an indoor pond rather than a standard tank. It is mostly peaceful with fish too large to be seen as food, but it will bully or swallow small tankmates, so match it with other sizeable, calm species. Feed a varied diet of sinking pellets, wafers, vegetables, and meaty frozen foods. A minimum of around 800 liters is a starting point, and more is better for a full group.

In the wild

The red-tail silver shark is endemic to the southern Western Ghats of Kerala, India, where it lives in large, clear, fast-flowing streams and rivers below the hills. Recreate a big-river feel with strong current, high oxygen, open swimming space, and a substrate of sand and water-worn rock. Keep it warm at 22 to 28 degrees Celsius with pH 6.5 to 7.8, and keep the water very clean, since this fish suffers in stale or crowded conditions.

Good to know

Hypselobarbus kurali belongs to the carp family, Cyprinidae, and was described by Menon and Rema Devi in 1995. It reaches about 35 centimetres, silver-bodied under a red-flushed tail, and is one of the larger barbs endemic to India's Western Ghats. It is a food and game fish in its range; captive breeding is not recorded in the aquarium hobby, where its size and space needs keep it a specialist fish.

Did you know

India's Western Ghats evolved their own answer to the Southeast Asian bala shark: a large, silver, red-tailed river barb that fills the same fast-water niche despite being an unrelated fish from the other side of the Bay of Bengal.

Tank mates

Red-tail silver shark is a mostly peaceful, schooling species that keeps to the middle. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.