 | Freshwater > Fish > Cyprinidae |
 | | | |  | Barbus Terazonas (Tiger barbs, Sumatra Barbs) |  |  |
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 | Quick Ref. |  | |  Species: Barbus Terazonas
| Geo. Location: Indonesia, Sumatra
| PH: 6.5 - 7.0
| Temperature: 70 - 82F
| Water Hardness: 10 - 15dh
| Size: 2.5"
| Diet: live foods, spirulina, flakes
| Difficulty: 2
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| | | | | | Notes: Barbus Terazonas are quite popular among aquarium hobbyists. Their easyness to keep and raise make them very attractive to beginners as well as more experienced hobbyists who are interested in breeding an easy oviparous species.
Tiger Barbs have a golden body crossed with 4 dark/black vertical bars. In captivity their are usually not bigger than 2 or 3 inches. These Cyprinidae are also called Puntius Tetrazona.
In the wild, these fish live in schoals. It is a good idea to introduce at least 6 (or more) Tiger Barbs in a same tank as these fish will not do well left alone. One of their interesting particularites is that it seems that these fish respond to a leader in the schoal and everybody has its own role (hierarchical order). It is often the bigger male that lead the schoal.
Tiger Barbs are hardy and robust, their lifespan is approximately 6 years and they are a great addition to community tanks. However, it is not recommended to keep these fish with long fin fish like Angels, Bettas or guppys as they will nibble on them. In extreme case, they can even kill them. They will also nibble on plants and it is recommended to keep them in tanks with robust plants (rooted).
Their tank should be provided with hidding places (plants, rocks) as well as swimming areas. Tiger Barbs are very active and need space to move around. When keeping a schoal, be sure to provide them with a long tank where they will be able to move around properly. For a small schoal, a 20 gallons tank should be enough as long as they are provided with a good filtration system and water circulation. Dark susbtrate is recommended.
Tiger Barbs are quite easy to keep and are not too exigeant regarding water quality. It is however recommended to make water changes on a weekly basis as a schoal of these fish will produce a lot of wastes.
Some other varieties of Barbus Tetrazona are green (dark green patches), golden (no black bars) or albinos.
| Breeding: Barbus Tetrazona is quite easy to breed for an oviparous species. The spawning process is very similar to the one of Danios (Brachydanio Rerio).
Males are smaller and slenders than females. They also are more brightly colored. Tiger barbs become sexually mature at the age of 9 to 12 months. This egglayer fish requires some conditionning in order to stimulate spawning. At 10 to 15 gallons tank can be used as a breeding tank. Water hardness will be soft, temperature a little above normal (80F) and ph slightly acidic (6.5). The tank will be planted with Java Moss and no substrate is required. Some aquarium Hobbyists uses marbles (see Brachydanio Rerio) as a substrate for the non sticky eggs to fall into, away from the hungry parents. A great article on this technique is available here. Spawning stimulation can also be achieve by feeding live foods twice daily for a few days. Males and females should not be introduced in the breeding tank at the same time (a couple hours appart). It is likely than spawning will occur the following morning as these fish usually breed at the first rays of the sun. It is therefore recommended to have the breeding tank face a window.Tiger Barbs lay their eggs in the plants (Java Moss) and marbles and it is important to remove the parents as soon as the spawning process has ended as they would eat the eggs. Approximately 200 eggs will be laid which will hatch in approximately 30 hours. The fry become free swimming after 4 or 5 days. Feed the fry with infusoria and baby brine shrimps until they they are big enough to take bigger foods.
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| | | Readers comments & pictures: Barbus Terazonas | | |
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| J Bukkems - 2004-03-21 07:23:35 | Picture |  | | | Please visit our aquariumdatabase : http://aquavisie.retry.org/Database/database.html | |
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| Joshua Manickchand - 2009-11-01 18:04:08 | | | | | Your notes really informed me a lot about spawning tiger barbs.As an ardent spawner of fish,I recently spawned a pair of tiger barbs with the help of your information.It is very helpful. | | | | | | |
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