Setna barb

Pethia setnai

Also known as Indigo barb, Puntius setnai

FreshwaterFish

Care at a glance

Temperature: 72–81°F (22–27°C)
pH: 6.0–7.2
Adult size: 2 in (5 cm)
Minimum tank: 20 gal (75 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: No record
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Goa and Maharashtra coastal rivers, India
Family: Cyprinidae

Overview

The Setna barb is a small, peaceful shoaling fish that should be kept in a group of six or more, which keeps it confident and brings out the indigo sheen the males carry. It swims in the middle water of a planted tank and mixes well with other calm, similarly sized community fish, including small rasboras, dwarf barbs, and peaceful bottom dwellers. It is easy to feed, taking good flake, micro pellets, and small frozen foods such as daphnia and bloodworm. Give it planted cover with open swimming space in front. A tank of around 75 liters holds a good group comfortably.

In the wild

Pethia setnai is endemic to a short stretch of India's west coast, in the west-flowing rivers of Goa, southern Maharashtra, and northern Karnataka. It lives in clear streams among plants and leaf litter, so a planted tank with soft, gentle flow and some botanical cover suits it. Keep it at 22 to 27 degrees Celsius with pH 6.0 to 7.2. Stable, clean water matters to this narrowly distributed fish.

Good to know

Pethia setnai is a carp-family fish, Cyprinidae, described by Chhapgar and Sane in 1992 and reaching about 5 centimetres. Silver-gold and crossed by dark indigo bars, it is restricted to a small area of the northern Western Ghats and is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Aquarium breeding is not documented, though as a small barb it is presumably an egg-scattering spawner.

Did you know

Its whole world is a narrow coastal strip where short rivers run from the Western Ghats to the Arabian Sea in under a hundred kilometres, and the indigo barb lives nowhere else on Earth.