Redtail garra

Garra panitvongi

Also known as Red garra, Garra sp. Redtail, Red tail garra

FreshwaterFish

Redtail garra (Garra panitvongi) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–81°F (22–27°C)
pH: 6.5–7.5
Adult size: 5.1 in (13 cm)
Minimum tank: 42 gal (160 L)
Temperament: Mostly peaceful
Social behavior: Social
Swim level: Bottom
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Ataran drainage, Thailand and Myanmar border
Family: Cyprinidae

Overview

The redtail garra is the most colourful of the aquarium garras, and it shows best kept as a small group in a bright, fast-flowing tank, where mild squabbling over grazing spots spreads out among several fish rather than falling on one. It works the bottom and lower water, gripping rock and wood to rasp algae and biofilm. Temperament is mostly peaceful, though it is a busy, pushy grazer, so give it robust tankmates such as hillstream loaches and current-loving barbs that ignore its fussing. Supplement the biofilm it grazes with algae wafers, sinking pellets, and frozen foods like bloodworm. A tank of around 160 liters with strong flow suits a small group.

In the wild

Garra panitvongi comes from the isolated Ataran drainage on the Thailand and Myanmar border, part of the wider Salween basin, where it lives in clear, oxygen-rich hill streams running over stone. Give it a river tank with strong current, smooth rocks and cobbles for grazing, and bright light to grow the biofilm it feeds on. Keep it at 22 to 27 degrees Celsius with pH 6.5 to 7.5, and keep oxygen high.

Good to know

Garra panitvongi is a carp-family fish, Cyprinidae, growing to somewhere around 12 centimetres. Slate-blue over the body, it lights up with a flame-orange tail and a raised snout pad bordered by a blue V. It was formally described only in 2023 and named for the Thai naturalist Nonn Panitvong; aquarium breeding is not documented.

Did you know

This fish was a familiar aquarium import for years, sold simply as the redtail garra, before scientists described it as new to science in 2023 and named it after the Thai naturalist who had long championed the region's fishes.