My Rosy Barbs

[coolie]

These fish I like a lot more than I thought I would.
 
I bought them because they are supposedly the easiest egg scatterers to breed. They are not the most stunning fish in the world to look at.
In the shop they were in a small tank of say 40 or 50 specimens and you couldn't point towards the tank without a nervous reaction from all of them.
 
But they settled into my tank pretty quickly and had me worried at first as they like to eat greenery. I have indeed lost one breed of plant but the
others they don't touch as soon as they've worked out they don't like them. These include Amazon Swords and Java Fern, plus Java Moss, all are safe, thank god.
 
What I like about them, is they are curious, always on the go, always eating, always playing. Today I hoovered the gravel. They can't resist following the sound of the
plastic against the gravel. It excites them. Others swim up and down chasing the large particles inside the uplift tube (they can't get to) while still others really really
want to know what your hand tastes like and take little nips at it.
 
I like these fish a lot, they are into everything, and they like mating as well whether it be pretend or for real, but that's another subject. So it was a risk to put them in a
planted tank, but I have had great novelty putting spinach leaves and spicy water cress, also red cabbage from a salad bag, they love it all. Some of the thicker stems,
they can't eat, but it gives them something to play with.
 
The only other things I have in the tank are two varieties of Tetras, which didn't know what had hit them when they arrived, but now they all feed together, contradicting
some reference works saying the Rosy Barbs may be too boystrous, but they seem to be ok, for now. Oh, and did I say they eat snails too?

 

[TallTree01]

I loved my Rosies too. They occasionally grappled with each other but it was nothing serious. They're truly great fish and it makes me mad how many of these are eaten .

 

[coolie]

Does anyone know if Rosy Barbs will eat

"WATER WISTERIA Hygrophila Difformis"
 
Rosy Barbs love lettuce and cabbage and my Rosy Barbs' favourite is spicy water cress. However there are some plants they eat and some they don't touch.

 

[MBOU]

If they eat lettuce, they will likely eat the difformis, its a pretty soft plant...
 
I managed to accidentally breed Rosy Barbs once! Most neglected fish ever... they attacked everything (one male and one female) and so got temporarily put into a 19L Fluval Chi as a holding tank and then ended up being in their 6 months before I found them a home. They had a 70% water change once a month and fed 2-3 times a week as they were fat! Plastic plant and a few pebbles and they seemed happy as ever. When I was breaking down the tank to move them on, their new owner got 3 little babies too!

 

[coolie]

I have placed on the gravel some low-lying plastic plant mats to catch the eggs. (It's actually some plastic topiary I got from a garden centre and cut up).
 
They will eat non-stop given the chance so I'm very cruel to be kind with the feeding but they have lettuce leaves all afternoon.
 
You can open the lid and hold the lettuce leaf just above the water and they are almost jumping up to reach it, they get so excited.
 
I have found one refernce on the web to say they don't eat difformis, but am looking for someone to corroborate this or compare with similar barbs. I have a theory that some plants are bitter or not good for them and it's not only about whether they are tough but it's just a theory.

 

[JellOh]

I used to have two Rosey Barbs, but had to give them away as I didn't have enough room to get them the school they deserved. I bought them from someone calling then Angelfish and keeping them and 3 Glofish (zebra danios) in a 2 gallon hex. They were ecstatic once they found their new home to be a 10 gallon. I ended up giving them to someone with a 55 gallon. I hope to one day get a large, long tank and have a huge school of these guys and zebra danios. They are just so fun to watch as the rush around the tank and discover every nook and cranny with a childish glee.