Red-tailed tinfoil barb

Barbonymus altus

Also known as Red-tail tinfoil

FreshwaterFish

Red-tailed tinfoil barb (Barbonymus altus) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–82°F (22–28°C)
pH: 6.0–7.5
Adult size: 9.8 in (25 cm)
Minimum tank: 106 gal (400 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Easy
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Mekong and Chao Phraya basins
Family: Cyprinidae

Overview

The red-tailed tinfoil is a big, glittering, genuinely peaceful schooler, and it does best in a group of four or more of its own kind, which also keeps it calm around other fish. It cruises the open middle water and grows fast to around a hand-span and a half, so it needs length far more than height. Pair it with other large, easygoing tankmates such as silver dollars, bigger loaches, and peaceful catfish; anything small enough to fit in the mouth may eventually go missing, not from malice but appetite. It eats almost anything, leaning green, so offer vegetable flake and blanched greens alongside pellets, wafers, and frozen foods. A tank of around 400 liters suits a small group, with more room welcomed as they bulk out.

In the wild

Barbonymus altus ranges through the Mekong and Chao Phraya basins of Southeast Asia, living in large rivers, canals, and seasonally flooded plains where it moves with the water. A roomy tank with open swimming lanes, a sand or fine gravel bed, and some driftwood mimics that home. Keep it warm at 22 to 28 degrees Celsius with pH 6.0 to 7.5, and give it strong filtration, since a group of large, hungry barbs produces a real waste load.

Good to know

Barbonymus altus is a carp-family fish, Cyprinidae, reaching about 25 centimetres, a slightly smaller relative of the common tinfoil barb. The clearest way to tell them apart is the tail: altus wears a plain red or orange caudal fin, while the true tinfoil, B. schwanenfeldii, has a black stripe edging each tail lobe. Aquarium breeding is not documented; in the wild it is a seasonal, river-spawning egg scatterer.

Did you know

Look at the tail edge in the shop tank: a plain red fin with no black submarginal line marks the true red-tailed tinfoil, and many fish sold under that name are actually young common tinfoils wearing the wrong label.

Tank mates

Red-tailed tinfoil barb is a peaceful, schooling species that keeps to the middle. These picks match on water type, temperature, pH, size and temperament.