Barbus cherry - a wonderful fish for small aquariums

All aquarists who are just beginning their acquaintance with the interesting and diverse world of domestic fish, in addition to the well-known guppies, you can advise such a wonderful view, like the cherry barbeque. In nature, these fish live in the fresh waters of Sri Lanka. Barbus cherry - a small active fish, the length of which is only 5 cm. Its body is elongated in length, and the back is slightly arched. The fish is characterized by an incomplete lateral line and a lower position of the mouth. Barbus cherry has one pair of small antennae.

These fish show sexual dimorphism. Thus, males have a more slender body, a red dorsal fin with two black strips. Its color is dominated by cherry color. Unlike males, females have yellow fins and a paler color. On sale there are also very rare albino forms.

Barbus cherry - a beautiful, peaceful, but a little shy little fish. Several such specimens (5-6 pieces) can be successfully contained in a small aquarium with a capacity of 10 liters and higher. The group should be dominated by females. They can live with other small peaceful fish. As a rule, these barbs prefer to keep in the lower and middle water layers. The water temperature should be 20-26 ° C.

They perfectly feel themselves in closed aquariums with good aeration and filtration. Barbus Cherry prefers dark soil and muted lighting. In the aquarium there should be a lot of aquatic plants (at the back wall and at the edges), shelters (driftwood, stones), as well as a place for free swimming. Every week you need to replace 1/4 of the water. These fish readily eat both artificial and live feeds (correter, bloodworm, daphnia, tubule). Often these fish absorb the tender tissues of water plants.

Fish-barbs reach puberty relatively early. So, by the age of 6 months they are capable of reproduction. For this, spawners with a capacity of 10-15 liters are used. Characteristics of water: stiffness - 15 °, t - 24-28 ° С, pH - 7,0. As a substrate, broad-leaved plants are used, since eggs are attached to them using thin threads. For breeding, the male and female are planted in spawning grounds. Before spawning, they are kept separately. Males are fed live feeds, and females - live and plant. In the masonry there can be about 250 eggs. Producers are planted after spawning. The incubation period is 24-38 hours. The fry swim and eat after 3 days. At 3 months, you can already distinguish female from males.

A very beautiful fish, something like a cherry barbeque, is the Schubert barbeque. This species is not found in nature. T. Schubert brought it out artificially. This fish has a beautiful yellow color and activity. There are specimens with a yellow-red or yellow-green tinge. Along the body they have a strip of greenish shade with small dark spots. On sticks, these spots are absent. Males slightly slimmer and smaller in size. In length, these schooling fish reach 8 cm. In content they are unpretentious, so even beginners aquarists can successfully breed them. According to the conditions of living and feeding, they resemble barley cherry, so they get along very well. The aquarium should have a lid, as these fish can jump out of the water.