Tiger Barb red starfire

PuntiusTetrazona

It lives freely in Indonesia, Sumatra, Borneo and perhaps Thailand. It was introduced in 1935 in the hobby world. Males are thinner than females, brightly coloured with red lines on the head and around the mouth area. It belongs to the family Cyprinidae (subfamily Cyprininae). It is a very active and 'playful' fish and lives in shoals. It has a habit of nibbling on the tails or fins of other fish. This behaviour is reduced by keeping it in as large groups as possible. It is not recommended for social aquariums unless its tankmates are active and fast moving fish with tails and fins of this size.

It needs relatively large, fast moving water areas and excellent conditions (very clean normal or slightly hard water, pH 7.0-7.5). It prefers plant protein foods and a variety of foods (live, frozen, flakes, pellets) to keep it in captivity, since it also feeds on a wide variety of foods in its natural environment (worms, larvae, insect larvae and insects). It is particularly sensitive to the parasite Ichthyophthirius (Ich) and when disturbed by stress or illness it typically turns its head downwards. Ideal mates may be fish such as Balandiocheilus melanopterus (Silver shark), Botia species (B. macracanthus, B. modesta etc.), or Epalzeorynchos sp. (E. frenatus, E. bicolor, E. siamensis etc.).

Quite popular is the green variety of the species (Moss or green barbus), as well as the albino tiger barbus (albino tiger barbus)

Description

• Maintenance: easy
• Character: semi-aggressive
• Water conditions: dKH 4-10, pH 6-7
• Dietary habits: omnivorous
• Size: <7cm