Interview with Chris Carpenter

The Cichlid Stage interviewed our own Chris Carpenter! Read the interview here: https://thecichlidstage.com/chris-carpenter-interview/

Pethia Setnai by Mike Monje

As a barb enthusiast I looked for this fish for about a year before it I found it, a big thank you to
Ben and the crew at Watercolors, as they were instrumental in my obtaining this species. So, as you may have surmised, this is not a particularly common barb species to find in the hobby. A pretty fish, the body is an overall silver, with two large black dots, one in front of the dorsal mid-body and one in front of the tail this one goes the entire width of the fish. These Black spots are bordered with a nice yellow patch on both sides. The dorsal gets a nice red coloration to it, although I believe this is sex specific, I need to do more observation to prove this out. Literature states this fish can attain a length of 65mm, (2.6 inches), mine are nowhere near that, topping out at about 50mm, (2 inches).

This species is found in the rivers and streams of the Western Ghats, located on the West Coast
of India. It is reported to congregate in the slower moving pools, someday I may have to substantiate
this myself. Reported to be a foraging omnivore in the wild, I’ve found them to be very eager eaters
taking all varieties of food offered. As with most barbs, temperature from 68 to 80 are tolerated, mine
spawned at 78 degrees. I keep mine in a shoal of 11 fish in a planted 33long aquarium with Red Glass
Barbs, and Hi-Fin Red Wag Platy’s. I’ve found them to be a very peaceful barb, no fin nipping at all, and they haven’t eaten the plants, not even the Water Wisteria.

Spawning them didn’t really prove to be difficult at all, about the difficulty level of Cherry Barbs.
Once I had several females with egg swollen bellies, I moved 2 of them to a 2.5gallon with marbles on the bottom and a handful of Java Moss, introduced 3 males about a half hour before lights out. I missed the actual spawn but by noon the females were noticeably thinner, so I removed all the fish. It took me about a week and a half to see fry in the tank, but within a few days they disappeared. Turns out these fry like to be at the bottom, darting around and in and out of the marbles! I fed them Hikari First Bites, sponge grunge, and pulverized flakes all were eagerly accepted by the fry. Growth was pretty rapid and even at 15mm, (5/8 of an inch), they looked just like their parents.

This is a fantastic barb species for any level of hobbyist. A good community fish, nice coloration,
maintains a nice active shoal, does well in planted aquariums. They are very tolerant/adaptable to wide variety of temperatures and water parameters. This fish really should be more established in the hobby.

Imperial Barb, Dawkinisa Rohani by Chase Klinesteker

DESCRIPTION

The Imperial Barb is a rarely seen but beautiful barb found in the hillstreams of Southern India.  It has an iridescent green upper body with red or orange in the fins and a large black teardrop shaped marking on the body near the tail.  Other names for it are Teardrop Barb or Rohan’s Filament Barb. Adult males have long filaments of the rays in the dorsal fin and more color in the fins and body than the females.  It is a schooling, active, fast swimming, good sized barb (4 to 5 inches) that can handle itself, yet is quite peaceful. Because it is a stream fish, current and clean, high-oxygen water is appreciated.  They will eat some plants, but are perfect for a larger tank with cichlids. They are omnivores that will eat just about anything, including fish pellets. Newly described in 2010, it is rarely available, has a limited range, and is listed as “vulnerable to extinction” on the IUCN Red List.

BREEDING

In 2018 I obtained 3 adult Imperial Barbs from Jeff at Bluefish Aquarium.   There was a female and 2 males and I set up a pair to breed in the usual barb manner several times with no results.  When searching the Internet, a video was found on Ted’s Fishroom that showed spawning this fish. It talked about separating the sexes and conditioning them first, as well as using large nylon mops as a spawning medium on the tank bottom in one end.  Although a 20-gallon long tank is small to breed this sized fish, it was all that was available. Males are not overly aggressive, so both males were used to spawn with the female. The temperature was around 78 degrees in dim light, and a box filter containing peat moss was used in addition to the undergravel filter on one end of the tank.  50% water changes were done until spawning occurred. Although the female did not look slimmer after spawning, over 1,000 tiny eggs were laid! This spawning setup might work well for many of the larger barbs.

THE EGGS AND FRY

The mops were placed in a bucket of water and worked around to dislodge the adhesive eggs, then rinsed of debris, and placed in aerated hatching jugs of clean water with some methylene blue added.  The eggs are sensitive to light, so the methylene blue helps reduce that. Both tapwater and soft rainwater were used, with a somewhat better fry hatch and survival in rainwater. The eggs are tiny for so large a fish, clear, and difficult to see.  Once the eggs hatch, the tiny colorless fry are cleaned by swirling in a pan, picking them up with a baster in the center, and putting them in a jug of fresh water with light aeration. In 5 days, the fry are free-swimming and can be transferred to a larger tank with some snails to be fed.  First food was suspended fine Liquifry or Golden Pearls, and after a couple of days, newly hatched brine shrimp. In two months the fry will be ½ to ¾ inch and have 4 vertical dark markings on their body in typical barb fashion. This is a quite different pattern from the adults.

2 month old Imperial Barb fry, about ¾ inch

The Imperial Barb is a beautiful and challenging fish to breed, but well worth the effort.  Check out my new website on breeding tropical fish at: www.chasesfishes.net.