Six-banded barb

Desmopuntius hexazona

Also known as Puntius hexazona, Six-banded tiger barb

FreshwaterFish

Six-banded barb (Desmopuntius hexazona) — The Wet Spot Tropical Fish · Used with permission

Care at a glance

Temperature: 73–82°F (23–28°C)
pH: 4.5–6.8
Adult size: 2.4 in (6 cm)
Minimum tank: 24 gal (90 L)
Temperament: Peaceful
Social behavior: Schooling
Swim level: Middle
Difficulty: Medium
Breeding: Medium
Rarity: Rare
Origin: Peat swamps of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo
Family: Cyprinidae

Overview

The six-banded barb is a peaceful blackwater shoaler that should be kept in a group of eight or more, both for its own confidence and to see the tidy banded pattern move as a school. It swims in the middle and lower water of a shaded, soft-water tank and, unlike the superficially similar tiger barb, it does not nip fins, so it makes a fine companion for gouramis, small rasboras, and other gentle soft-water fish. Feed small foods: fine flake, micro pellets, and frozen or live daphnia, cyclops, and bloodworm. Plant it well and dim the light. A tank of around 90 liters suits a good group.

In the wild

Desmopuntius hexazona lives in true blackwater across Sundaland, in peat swamps and slow, shaded forest streams of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo, where the water is soft, acidic, and stained brown with tannins. Recreate that with leaf litter, wood, dim light, and gentle flow over a dark substrate. Keep it warm and very soft, 23 to 28 degrees Celsius, at a low pH of 4.5 to 6.8.

Good to know

Desmopuntius hexazona is a small carp-family fish, Cyprinidae, reaching about 6 centimetres, gold crossed by six dark bars, one more than its five-banded relative and two more than the true tiger barb. Breeding is moderately achievable in soft, acidic water: it scatters eggs among fine plants and gives no parental care. It belongs to a knot of very similar banded blackwater barbs that are routinely confused in the trade.

Did you know

True six-banded barbs are often sold under the wrong name: they share the peat swamps with a cluster of nearly identical banded barbs, and shop fish labelled pentazona or hexazona are frequently one of the lookalikes.