Quite an interesting, but not the most common aquarium fish is a bream-shaped barbus. Beautiful, funny and mobile, a flock of even several individuals can fill any aquarium, attracting the attention of any viewer. Therefore, telling more about it will be useful.
What does he look like
Perhaps, in appearance, it looks like a mixture of bream and roach - it can not be called a typical representative of the family of barbs. First of all, due to its size, healthy individuals with a balanced diet, living in a large aquarium, may well grow up to 30-35 centimeters. This already explains the relatively small popularity of fish - far from every aquarium even a pair of such barbs will be comfortable. But they prefer to live in flocks.
His body is round, resembling a bream or crucian carp, but not as elongated as most barbs. Dorsal fin high, gray. The rest are deep red. It is for this reason that the barbarian is a red-tailed crab and owes its name. The scales are large, tightly fitted, silver-mirror color. She will remind experienced fishermen of roach. However, sometimes individuals with a golden color are also found.
Where dwells
The habitat of this species is quite large - it lives in almost all regions of Southeast Asia: Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, Borneo, Sumatra, Thailand and the Malay Peninsula. They prefer to live in small rivers and streams, where the number of predators is minimized. Well, to spawn, they gather in backwaters, coastal lowlands and even rice fields.
In nature, individuals are found even longer than 35 centimeters. Of course, in artificial conditions, such large fish are very rare. But life expectancy in captivity is significantly longer. In wild reservoirs, they live an average of 8-10 years (which is also a rather considerable period!), And in an aquarium, at a suitable temperature, water and nutrition, they can live much longer. No wonder - the lack of predators, the abundance of food - all this affects how many years the fish will live.
Choosing the right diet
In order for the fish to live for a long time, they are distinguished by excellent health and look beautiful, it is extremely important to provide them with suitable food.
In the wild, they eat surprisingly different foods. Algae, small insects, leaves, crustaceans, fry, and even carrion fall into the water in their diet.
Of course, to provide the same food that fish eat in the wild is simply impossible. However, you can quite accurately recreate it - the inhabitants of the aquarium definitely will not mind.
So, what kind of food does the barbarian golden need?
Let's start with the vegetable - he loves her very much. A duckweed will become a good choice (it is advisable to breed it in a special aquarium, and when taking it from natural reservoirs, keep it for several days in a solution of methylene blue). You can also give finely chopped lettuce, scalded nettle and spinach. Sometimes treat your pets to a squash grated on a coarse grater. Some experts even recommend introducing apples and pears into the diet from time to time, but in small quantities.
But in no case should you forget about animal feed. Raw shrimp and earthworms are suitable here - they need to be chopped coarsely. You can supplement the diet with a tubule or bloodworm. You do not need to grind them - even young fish are large enough to swallow them whole.
Feed preferably twice a day. And give as much food as will be eaten in two to three minutes. Like many other fish, the bream-shaped barbus does not know the measure and will eat food in any quantity, and this is fraught with obesity and serious diseases - especially since losing weight by actively swimming in a spacious pond at home is very difficult.
How to distinguish a female from a male
As you can see, the bream-shaped barbus is surprisingly simple in content. Reproduction is also a very interesting stage in the life of these aquarium fish. But first you need to learn how to distinguish a male from a female. What should one pay attention to?
Alas, this breed does not have unambiguous, distinct signs. If a guppy, a sword-bearer, and many others do not confuse a sexually mature female with a male, then here you need to spend a lot of time observing in order to figure out who is who with high probability.
The male usually has a slightly smaller size. In addition, the ratio of height to length is a little different - the male is a bit narrower. Also, its fins are painted in a rich red color, while in females they are most often orange.
Get offspring
Unfortunately, quite a little is known about the reproduction of these amazing fish - even experienced aquarists practically do not pay attention to this. However, it’s hard to blame them. Still, in order for a flock of 5-6 adults to feel quite comfortable, it is advisable to keep them in an aquarium of 600-700 liters. Very few aquarists, including those who have been practicing their hobby for decades, can boast of having a tank of this size.
And the female at a time tosses from 100 to 1000 eggs. Even if we assume that only half of the fry hatch, it’s hard to imagine an aquarium, the volume of which is suitable for the new generation, in an ordinary apartment or even a spacious cottage.
But in general, there is nothing complicated in breeding. If you did not get into the trouble of a bream-shaped barbus during maintenance, you can also try to master the breeding, becoming one of the first to succeed in our country.
Male and female (at least expected) should be dropped off from the main pack into different aquariums - 40-50 liters each, no less. Feed them heavily with live food, increasing the water temperature by 1-2 degrees compared to normal. After about 1-2 weeks, the male fins will become even brighter - so it's time to put a couple in one aquarium. It is desirable that its volume was not less than 100 liters. First, the male takes care of the female, swims around, flirts, rubs against her. If the female has matured, then she marks the eggs - on the ground and algae leaves. Immediately after this, the male will pour her milk, impregnating.
Immediately after this, the fish need to be sedimented, the aquarium should be closed from direct sunlight and increased aeration should be turned on. Soon tiny fry hatch from the eggs, which from the first days of life eat the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, then switch to nauplii of brine shrimp, and then with pleasure treat themselves with a bloodworm, tubule. They grow very quickly, reaching 10 centimeters by the year.
Which aquarium is right for him?
As mentioned above, even for a small flock, you will need a very large aquarium. It is advisable to be elongated, even if not too high - like all barbs, the bream-like people like to swim a lot and quickly. Very large dimensions do not stop them.
The optimum water temperature is from 22 to 25 degrees Celsius. But they tolerate a rise in temperature in the summer heat quite easily - after all, they come from Southeast Asia, where the water often warms up to 40 degrees Celsius. Of course, on particularly hot days you need to turn on the compressor at full power. Such large, and even so active fish need a large amount of oxygen dissolved in water.
The filter also needs a very powerful one. On the one hand, due to the habit of fish, it is rather sloppy - they scatter food, and then do not consider it necessary to collect small pieces from the bottom. So that it does not deteriorate, you need a powerful filter. On the other hand, a sufficiently powerful filter (or even several - for such a large aquarium) will create a flow. Thanks to him, not only the layers of water are mixed, providing a uniform distribution of air, but also comfortable living conditions are simply provided. It was already mentioned above that in nature, barb-shaped barbs prefer to live in flowing streams. So such an imitation of the flow will be very helpful.
How does he get along with other fish
Unlike most other barbus breeds, the bream has a surprisingly peaceful character. He will not frustrate neighbors in the aquarium, bite off their fins and mustaches and torment them with constant attacks. It would seem an ideal neighbor.
But there is one problem. Most small fish (and compared to this barbus, almost any fish looks small), he sees only as food. So guppies, pecilia, neons, zebrafish and even insufficiently efficient red-cheeked or Sumatran barbs may well replenish his diet.
Neighbors should be large, mobile, but at the same time not aggressive fish. A good choice would be kissing gourami, shark ball, pestostomy and striped platidoras.
