Neptun
The Sumatran barb is found in the waters of Sumatra and Kalimantan islands. On the territory of Europe this wonderful fish is known since 1935. Fans of the USSR recognized it around 1947. This representative of the underwater world belongs to the genus Puntius.
Synonyms: Puntius tetrazona, tetrazona Beecker
Sumatran Barb Description
In length, a representative of this species can reach seven centimeters. In aquarium conditions are rarely more than five centimeters. Have a flattened body from the sides. Coloration is silver with four transverse black stripes. Anal fin is red in color. A third black stripe seems to continue onto the dorsal fin. The dorsal fin has a red border. In good specimens of males of this species, the outermost rays of the caudal fin and the anterior part of the head are red.
Sumatran barb aquarium maintenance
Water hardness is desirable up to 10°dH. The temperature should be between 21 and 23°C. The acidity of the medium is pH – 7.
Keep these fish is better in small flocks of seven to ten pieces. The vessel designed for them is desirable not less than 30 liters and oblong. Plants should be planted along the back wall leaving room for swimming, as the fish are mobile and like to swim quickly, you need to give them room to disperse. Tetrazona Beecker peaceful creature and it can be kept with representatives of other species. But sometimes it happens that they pluck the fins of slow fish such as vualeontails.
Sumatran Barb breeding
Breeding barbs is quite simple, but requires attention, patience and accuracy. Very often novice aquarists in an attempt to get offspring from this wonderful fish expects failure. And the reason lies in the fact that the ability to reproduce fish puntius tetrazona, like no other species affect the conditions of content preceding spawning. If the aquarium is dark with old water – from the fish from such an aquarium is unlikely to get offspring. When containing species puntius tetrazona species is desirable to try to create him living conditions close to the conditions in a tropical lake. It should be very light densely planted with plants aquarium. Not superfluous will be a weekly replacement of 1/5 of the volume of water to fresh water. Also may be useful artificial aeration. Fish in no case should not experience a lack of oxygen.
About two weeks before the expected spawning males are separated from females and feed both live food – moths, enchitrei.
How to set up a spawning ground
It is desirable to arrange the spawning ground from a solid glass vessel with a volume of 15 -20 liters. Water should be soft. Reducing the hardness contributes to its heating to 50 – 80 ° C. Cooling it poured into the aquarium at the bottom of which lay small-leaved plants. It is desirable to arrange artificial aeration. On spawning drop off a couple of producers. The female abdomen should be swollen near the anus. If the abdomen swollen in the front part of the caviar in such a female is not ripe and take her to spawn is not worth it.
The temperature in the spawning ground raised to 28 – 29 ° C. If the male does not show activity, he should be replaced by another. Mating games lasts two to three hours. During this time, the female hatches from three hundred to six hundred yellow-greenish eggs. After spawning producers should be removed from the spawning ground, so that they do not eat just laid eggs. Eggs lying at the bottom of the aquarium should be protected from direct sunlight!
The larvae hatch from the eggs after about one day. After about three to four days, they turn into fry and begin to swim. From this point they should be fed live dust, infusoria. Water temperature is gradually reduced to 25 – 26 ° C. After about seven days, the fry begin to eat small cyclops. When reaching three to four weeks of age fry acquire the shape and coloration of adult fish, and by four months you can distinguish males from females. As the fry grow, it is necessary to transfer them to larger housing.
This is such an interesting fish, the Sumatran barb.
