My Barbs/Carps (Cyprinid) Collection

[GiantFishKeeper101]

Showcase all of my cyprinids collection

Osteobrama feae from Salween River. They ranges from India to Myanmar. These are not exactly rare but I have no idea why this species is such a big deal in asian market, quite expensive for such a common fish.

This is what it looks like when fully grown, picture found online

These guys are pigs. They never stop eating. I just had these but I think they're fast grower from the looks of it.

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

Aral Barbel @ Luciobarbus brachycephalus. Yes, any farm "Capito" barbel are the brachycephalus, not capito. I just had them for about 2 months but they grew fast. Didn't expect cold water fish would grow such a rate, around 1-1.5" in 2 months in 120g tank.



This is 1 of 3 of my normal colored Barbel. Sadly other 2 have loss their eyes from Hypsibarbus sp, but still alive & well. Eats like pigs but slower growth than the perfect eyes 1. Got em around 6-7", currently 8-9".


This is 1 of 5 of my albino aral. Got em around 2.5", now 4". The slowest ones probably 3.5".

 

[esoxlucius]

Nice, talk to me about your beardless barbs, I'm sure I saw one there. What size group do you have and what's your experience with growth rate?

I have four of them and, although beautiful, their growth rate is slow, really slow. I don't think many have them, it would be interesting to hear how yours are faring.

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

esoxlucius I never kept them for long, they come & go in my shop. They're such a common fish here so if I ever wanna keep them, i would look for the biggest size. Which I'm currently searching for like in this picture.

I think that's 13-15" fish, the size of a foot.

We have 4 species of Beardless Barbs, C. apogon, C. armatus, C. repasson & C. heteronema. But the biggest of the 4 are the C. repasson, like in the picture above. They have slimmer & longer body than the common beardless, C. apogon.

I don't take much of their photos, here's a few of it.

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

Panda Tinfoil Barb. These are actually Redtail (Siamese) Tinfoil Barb, Barbonymus altus, but with weird color morph. Perhaps some form of leucism but the skin almost transparent like albino & with full black eyes.


1 of 2 of my biggest panda tinfoil that I've ever had. Around 12-13".


Some specimens have shiny scales like this. They do have scales but most of them are translucent.


Shiny gill plates


Smaller specimens, 8-9"

Not all panda tinfoil have full black eyes. Some can change to normal eyes over time. Some retain their ghostly coloration, some developed dual tone coloration (purple top, white bottom), some developed like their normal orange yellowish color but with purplish hue. I still have no idea whether environmental factors have any effects on their color change.

All of mine are wild caught. But now they're farmed in Thailand. All small size panda tinfoil you see in your lfs are farmed ones. Cheaper, available all year round.

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

One of my favorite mahseer species. It's an undescribed species of Tor from Salween River. Salween blue mahseer in general have 3 variations & 1 of them are the humpbacks, not to be confuse with Humpback Mahseer of India (Tor remadevii). Humpbacks are the rarest of the Salween bunch. The most sort after of siamese mahseer.






Most siamese mahseers (Tor) have thick black lateral line like blue thai copper mahseer (Neolissochilus stracheyi). The humpbacks somewhat have curved head just like a barramandi, high body. Color ranges from black to black to copper.


Photos of large humpbacks are scarce, this is one of the example. Photo found online


This is another humpback specimen from an aquarist thai. This is how it looks like if it is well fed. Mine still considered thin, I just had it for 2 weeks so it needs to be fatten up.

Overall, beautiful fish. Considering Malaysia is a mahseer country with plenty of mahseers aquarist, humpbacks specimens non existent here. Mine are the first 1 to be brought in here. But I'm guessing it will not be available in near future as there are current conflicts between Thailand-Myanmar that makes collecting fish quite dangerous in Salween.

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

Yellow Bellied Barb @ Hypsibarbus wetmorei

This is the true wetmorei, always gets confused with H. vernayi @ Lemon Fin Barb. Well, it's an unofficial name for both species but true wetmorei doesn't have that strong yellow/orange color on pectorals, pelvic & anal fin.

When in juvenile stage, wetmorei have strong yellow fin color. As the get older, anal fin became colorless but pectorals & pelvic fins stays yellow. Same goes with vernayi but for vernayi, supposedly have red/orange coloration on the edge of the anal fin.



Wetmorei caudal fins can have 2 edge color, it can either be white or it can be red. It also can change overtime from red to white, i still have no idea why the colors changed. I have several wetmoreis in my care but this is the most pretty but not the biggest.

 

[esoxlucius]

Interesting. I bought four juvenile tinfoil barbs six years ago. One just didn't look right somehow, and over the years developed into something which certainly wasn't a tinfoil. I eventually identified it has a lemonfin barb (hypsibarbus wetmorei).

What do you reckon, true lemonfin, or a variant? This guy's one of my favourite fish. It's around the 14-15" mark currently.

 

[GiantFishKeeper101]

Interesting. I bought four juvenile tinfoil barbs six years ago. One just didn't look right somehow, and over the years developed into something which certainly wasn't a tinfoil. I eventually identified it has a lemonfin barb (hypsibarbus wetmorei).

What do you reckon, true lemonfin, or a variant? This guy's one of my favourite fish. It's around the 14-15" mark currently.

View attachment 1482248

That's indeed lemon fin barb but the it's not wetmorei, it's a Hypsibarbus vernayi. For a fish that have been kept for 6 years, it should be bigger.


Here's mine. You can clearly see the difference between the wetmorei, the head somewhat shorter, has a humpback, thicker anal fins.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Unless things have changed in the recent past my understanding of both H. Wetmorei and H. Vernayi appears to be the opposite way round to yours. Wetmorei being the fish which often has the more red fins and vernayi being the fish with white or yellow fins and often a more yellow tinge to the body. Whilst both are sold as lemon fin barbs here in the uk, I would suggest what you are calling wetmorei in your care are vernayi in your care.