Beardless barbs.....

[esoxlucius]

Well, it was two weeks since I bought my five beardless barbs. They are in my 180 com tank and i'm happy to report that they are thriving thus far. A very beautiful, very busy barb and, surprise surprise very greedy just like their bigger cousins, the tinfoils. They were eating only a couple of hours after putting them in! They patrol all levels of the tank and tend to shoal up with their other cousins the filament barbs, of which I have six.

They are about 4" at the minute but according to what i've read they will max out between 6-9". How long that will take only time will tell. As I mentioned in a previous post I will update this thread just once in a while and keep you posted on their development.

See picture below. You wouldn't believe how long it took to get this pic. They're constantly on the go.

 

[Hendre]

They are gorgeous! Looking forward to updates

 

[esoxlucius]

Just a quick update on my beardless barbs (cyclocheilichthys apogon). I've had them six months now, all five are doing great. I tried to get all five in the picture but I gave up after 20 mins of sitting at the side of my tank with my wife's phone, lol. So four will have to do.

These fish are an absolute delight, no trouble whatsoever, good eaters, they occupy all levels of the tank and, as you can see, are totally gorgeous. And the biggest bonus so far is that, unlike most barbs, they have absolutely no interest in my plants at all!

The only negative I can think of is that they are very slow growers. They've probably put an inch apiece on in six months, maybe that's ok, i don't know without having any comparisons, so the biggest is around 5". Whether they reach their full 6-9" potential in captivity I don't know, time will tell.

But so far i'm very glad I came across this oddball fish at my LFS back in June.

 

[Johnez]

These are beautiful fish. That patterning, wow. You might be on the cusp of introducing the next big thing in fish. Not that I have plans (no big tank) but do you have any plans on breeding them?

 

[esoxlucius]

These are beautiful fish. That patterning, wow. You might be on the cusp of introducing the next big thing in fish. Not that I have plans (no big tank) but do you have any plans on breeding them?

They're probably egg scatterers. Even if they can breed in home aquaria, if they start scattering eggs they'll become an instant meal in the com tank they're in at the moment. I'd have to seperate them and i'm not in a position to do that at the minute. Could be an interesting future project when they mature, who knows.

 

[fishdance]

I keep and breed them. In large schools they go into feeding frenzy and will attack fish much larger then themselves. A group will start tail biting larger fish until it dies. I am talking schools of multiple hundred / thousands though.

 

[DrownedFishonFire]

I keep and breed them. In large schools they go into feeding frenzy and will attack fish much larger then themselves. A group will start tail biting larger fish until it dies. I am talking schools of multiple hundred / thousands though.

Is it because they need the extra protein to build the egg reserves in their bodies than usual? Very interesting behavior. Do you know anything about filament or arulius barbs of they behave the same during spawning time by any chance? Im trying to grow out a couple of arulius barb for BAP at the local fish club and wanted to learn more. Very cool species

 

[FJB]

Nice fish!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[esoxlucius]

Just a quick update on these guys. Though, in truth, there's not much to add from previous posts really. I still have the original 5. About 8 months has gone by since my last update. The only thing that concerns me is, that being barbs, it's only a matter of time before my plants start getting nibbled on. But these guys, so far, have no interest in my greenery at all, so that's good.

Growthwise, I reported that they are extremely slow growers. Nothing's changed there either. The biggest is around 5.5" length, though they do seem to be getting fatter and deeper, rather than longer, but it's just so slooowwww. I doubt very much that their wild potential of 6-9" will happen in my tank.

They are a very tight knit shoaling fish too, as you can see from the picture. I'd love to have a species only 180g with about 20 of these guys in.

 

[jjohnwm]

I've never heard of these until coming upon this thread; beautiful fish! And the moderate size is a huge bonus. Thanks for posting.