I was lucky to get a few of these wonderful creatures from a senior fish enthusiast. I was thinking of getting a few adult specimen but to my surprise I was given some very young fishes, slightly longer than a centimeter at max. Though I was a little concerned, I had trust in my tank water chemistry so I brought them home and after acclimating for about an hour, I released them in the tank. They did not have any color except from a few black smudges, so they got lost in the plants within a blink of an eye. After about 12 hours, they had the stress marks gone and carefully started to check out their new home. I was surprised to see their extreme schooling. I have kept some of the well known shoaling species but these little guys surely surpass them all.
Golden Dwarf Barb
More importantly, these are our native species so they’re well adapted to our environment. I did not see them suffer from sudden temperature changes, which is becoming very common in our country. Previously they were kept in a species only setup and I wanted to see how they do in a community. I have Cherry Shrimps, Neon Tetra, Harlequin Rasbora and a few other small fishes of the same size. So far I did not see any compatibility issues or nipping. Occasionally they’d chase one other but only for a brief amount of time.
They are currently almost two centimeters in size, this species is know to become slightly more than an inch in adulthood. They get a nice golden over all color with horizontal black blotches. Some of them has more prominent black stripes than other. Females are bigger and have a round belly compared to the males.
I’ve been feeding them tetra bits and occasionally dried tubifex. The growth seem to be good so far. I’ve also seen them eating chunks of algae wafer I feed my shrimps and otto cats. Though barbs are famous for the nipping tendency, I did not see any such behavior but then again, I don’t have any fish which might taunt them. I’m so in love with this fish that If I get the chance, I might consider setting up a species only setup soon. This is definitely one of the best looking ornamental fish that is native to our country.
The pictures were taken by me about an week after I put them in the tank.
