Gold barbs, often known as Barbus schuberti are, in fact, a gold sport of the Chinese species Barbus semifasciolatus, often called Green Barbs, not to be confused with Green Tiger Barbs which are a man made sport of Babrus tetrazona.
They are a very undemanding species but grow to a good size, up to 100mm/4" sometime bigger. Females are, as usual, a little wider and deeper in the body, a bit bigger then males and less colourful. The Female tends to be yellow with a general sprinkling of small dark spots. The male is also yellow, but the dark markings tend to form diagonal lines, not stripes, more broken up, but more concentrated in pattern, on the upper flank. The darker markings in the male often have a few guanine crystals in them which show the green flashes often associated with GTB's. Both sexes have some red in the fins, the males more so.
Spawning is quite easy, but it is necessary to get the fish into condition. When ready to breed, both sexes develop a pinkish colouration in the abdomen, it is useless to attempt spawning if that is not present. Try to seperate the sexes for a couple of weeks before spawning so the females get full of eggs, together, in good condition, they drop a few eggs most days, but will eat them of course. They will spawn in most water, but the hatch percentage in anything other then very soft mildly acidic water is low. The females produce large numbers of small eggs, the fry are, as a result, very small and require infusoria or liquid food for the first week or to after they become free swimming. A lot of sponge filters covered with rotifers etc. is good.
They don't tolerate pollution well, so good water quality is a must. They also do not like really high temperatures, 21-22C is fine, they start to suffer above 25C.
These were one of the first barbs I bred, was back in the mid 1960's. Nice fish.
