Is This a red tailed tinfoil barb or a regular tinfoil?

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MonsterCichlids75

Gambusia
MFK Member
Feb 15, 2012
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Boston, MA
I didn't know where specifically to ask this question but I was recently given 3 young tinfoil barbs. I was told they were "Red tailed tinfoils" which I'm hoping they are since the redtails top out at around 9 inches give or take an inch. If they are regular tinfoil barbs (barbonymus schwanenfeldii I can't spell it...) then they will grow well over a foot. I've been told that a way to tell the difference between them is in the tail...if you guys know a specific section on the forum that this would be better in please let me know... So what is this fish, barbonymus schwan-whatever, or is it a barbonymus altus??


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Appears to be Altus but 9" max isn't very accurate. I had 5 Altus a few years ago that quickly reached 14".
 
KNH said:
Appears to be Altus but 9" max isn't very accurate. I had 5 Altus a few years ago that quickly reached 14".
Click to expand...

14 inches holy crap, is that a rare case for altus or have I been misinformed? It's a 125 gallon tank that they're in but I didn't want them to be regular tinfoils, since I've seen quite a few massive 15"+ tinfoils. I wasn't aware altus could reach those sizes too lol


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Members of Cyprinidae, which includes carps, true minnows, barbs and mahseers goes best in Other Monster Fish.

I've moved it there for you.

I can never tell the difference between the two types of TFB's. Your little fish look nice though!
 
Thanks for the thread move to the correct place :thumbsup: If anyone knows, is there any definite way to visually tell the difference between altus and shwanenfeldii? I've heard that red tailed tinfoils won't show the black in their tail fins that adult normal tinfoils show...any thruth to this, and can this method be used even when the barbs are really young?
 
It's my understanding that schwanenfeldii have the black stripes on their tails and the Altus do not. My barbs I bought at a lfs, labeled tinfoil barbs, never showed any signs of black on their tails. It seems Altus is the tinfoil that is more common in the trade. I tried to get eczs to bring in true schwanenfeldii at one point but he didn't think there would be enough demand.
 
the schwanenfeldii tin barb has a very noticeably black strip down the dorsal fin and tail fins where as the red tails have a more of a lt gray if any strip at all I have both kinds and are about 10"-13"
 
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