Gold Barbs

[FishySarah]

A while back I found out that the fish I bought as lemon tetras are really gold barbs. All my careful tetra research down the drain! One question - How big are these guys gonna get? They were tiny (1/2 inch) when I got them, now they are two inches. They are little eating machines....when will they stop growing?

 

[The-Wolf]

the largest gold barb I've seen was 4"
but it would depend on excatly which gold barb you have.

if you post a pic we can ID it for you and then give a difinative answer.

 

[Betta5]

4 inches seems a bit large. I would say 2 inches at the most from my past experiances with them.

 

[Lateral Line]

If we are talking about Barbus "schuberti", (quoted because it is not a valid name, but that which is commonly used - it is actually a colour sport of Barbus semifasciolatus), then 100mm/4" is definitely achievable.

 

[Mad Duff]

These are probably the 2 most common Barbs described as Golden Barb, is it either of these

Puntius Gelius or Dwarf Golden Barb, rarely exceeds 1 1/2"

Puntius Semifasciolatus also referred to as Barbus Schuberti, like both Wolf and Lateral Line have stated 4" is achievable, this one is a female that is 3".

 

[FishySarah]

It's the bottom one definitely. Wow. They're going to get twice as big as I thought. They won't eat my neons, will they? I hope not. You should see them, they go bonkers when they are fed. In fact, when I walk by the tank they 'follow' me, as if hoping for a snack, they actually swim back and forth as I walk by.
S.

 

[sylvia]

They should be fine with your neons but make sure the tank you have them in is large enough for all your fish consdiering how much bigger these get than you expected.

 

[Lateral Line]

I've always found even full sized specimens to be totally peaceful, indeed, easily bullied.

 

[LisaLQ]

We've got 5 in our 6ft community tank, and none of them have exceeded an 1.5" in the year we've had them