Info Needed On Rosy Barbs

[zimma]

hey guys i just worked out that the fish i bought as a feeder fish are rosy barbs, so now i have a few questions as i couldnt find much info about them on this site...

1. how big will a rosy barb in a tank generally get? and how quickly would they grow (mines currently about the size of a full grown guppy)

2. what are the ideal temperature requirements for these fish?

3. i was told they become agressive towards other fish as they grow larger.. will it be safe to leave it with some guppys and danios??

thanks

 

[Colin_T]

rosy barbs grow to about 2 inches and are a schooling fiish. They should be pretty close to full size in 6 months. They will tolerate temperatures between 16 & 30C. They aren't too fussy about PH but try to keep it around 7. The reason barbs get called fin nippers is because they are active schooling fish. If there aren't enough of them in the tank they get bored and try to hang out with the other fish. The other fish swim away and the barbs follow.
They shouldn't bothert the guppies but keep an eye on them, they might. They will be fine with danios.

 

[zimma]

ahh cool yeah ive had mine about 2-3 months now, and my tank is around all the parameters you stated so thats good news , i used to have 3 of them but my old goldfish ate 2 of them so this one (ironically the smallest) is the only one i have now, but yeah ill keep a close eye on the barb and see if it shows agression towards the guppies however it tends to just stay away from them and havent noticed any fin nipping yet but as i said ill watch it as the fish grows. thanks for the help my main concern was that the ones at the store werent fully grown but knowing that 2inces is full size it should all be good

 

[Lateral Line]

Alone, it is going to be somewhat unpredictable. Most naturally shoaling fish live in a constant state of stress when kept in a group that is too small. This can cause odd behaviour, ranging from being very shy all the way through to being overly aggresive.

Rosy Barbs aren't normally aggresive. I have had them over 100mm/4". They do tend to nibble soft plants.

 

[celaeno]

hey guys i just worked out that the fish i bought as a feeder fish are rosy barbs, so now i have a few questions as i couldnt find much info about them on this site...

1. how big will a rosy barb in a tank generally get? and how quickly would they grow (mines currently about the size of a full grown guppy)

2. what are the ideal temperature requirements for these fish?

3. i was told they become agressive towards other fish as they grow larger.. will it be safe to leave it with some guppys and danios??

thanks

1. my rosy barbs seemed to have maxed out at 2.5". females are slightly smaller. however, most sources say they go from 3-6". i think they attain a larger size in larger tanks.

2. i keep mine at 77F and they spawn often.

3. rosy barbs can be nippy. i couldn't put in otos with them. definitely don't keep fancy-finned fish like guppies and bettas with them. i have a krib with my rosy barbs and they do fine.

 

[Colin_T]

I'm not sure about the size of rosy barbs. Some books say they hit 4-6 inches but I have never seen one bigger than 3inches, (body length, not including tail). And I had a friend that was breeding them in huge ponds, almost small lakes so to speak. His fish never got bigger than 3inches.

Mind you it could be a genetic thing whereby someone has created a mutant strain that grows super huge. I have heard about 8-10inch Glossolepis incisus in Germany. People, including myself, said bull sh*t but it turned out to be true. Maybe something in the water, maybe something they are being fed. As a general rule tho, rosy barbs probably won't grow bigger than 3 inches.

Other fish have been known to outgrow their recommended size. For example I managed to get some Botia lohachata, Yoyo or dwarf Pakistani loach. They are only meant to get to 4 inches max. Mine got to 5 inches in a 4ft tank and the ones I gave a friend got to 8-10 inches. They were monsters. Every book said they were a dwarf species and these things took off major league style. They were only in a 6ftx14inx18in tank too. And they got to that size in less than 12 months. They didn't get any bigger than that but they still got bigger than the books said. Since then all the B. lohachatas I have seen and had haven't gotten any bigger than 4-5 inches.

 

[zimma]

thanks for all the help guys much appreciated

yeah as ive said so far its growing well VERY slowly and doesnt appear to be nippy at this point in time, i just have to remain watchful to make sure it doesnt develop a nipping problem as it grows larger, i keep my tank at around 24 degrees so i think thats around 77 fahrenheit...

in terms of it being stressed on its own it seems to stick on its own eating scraps of food and basically keeping my tank clean, it also seems to stay right down the bottom of the tank around the plants and has very little to do with other fish... in fact the guppies stay up the top away from it and the danios generally stay away as well... is there any key signs to look for to tell if its stressed out?

 

[Colin_T]

Stressed fish behave differently compared to normal, however if you have never had the fish before you won't know what is normal behaviour and what is abnormal. I suppose unusual behaviour for a rosy barb could be aggressive behaviour, sterotypical behaviour, (swimming up and down the front glass, or constantly swimming in the same area. A bit like pacing up and down the bars in caged zoo animals).