Barbus scarlet: description, care, breeding and compatibility

Barbs are active, funny and highly maneuverable fish. With their outdoor games, they bring revitalization to the measured life of the aquarium. In maintenance and care, they are unpretentious and suitable for a beginner aquarist. These fish live in flocks in nature, and therefore at home they feel comfortable in the company of their own kind. Scarlet barbs are less popular than green or Sumatran, but also have all the prerequisites for widespread fame.

The scarlet barbus has the scientific name puntius tikto or barbus tikto, in Latin it sounds Pethia ticto. This species of fish belongs to the class of ray-feathers, belongs to the order of cyprinids and represents the family of cyprinids. The fish has another name - Odessa barbus. It appeared thanks to the Ukrainian coastal city, in which they began to breed these handsome men in the vast expanses of the former Soviet Union in the 70s of the last century.

It was brought to the European continent in 1903. He did not immediately gain wide fame, but eventually spread throughout Europe.

In the wild, tikto still live in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Laos, Burma and a number of countries in Southeast Asia. They chose quiet ponds and backwaters of freshwater rivers, the silty bottom of which serves as a source of food for barbs. In the natural habitat, these cyprinids live in flocks of up to 20 individuals.

The body length of a female scarlet barbus can reach up to 10 cm, but this is the maximum indicator, they usually reach 6-8 cm, the male, as a rule, is even a couple of centimeters shorter.The body is slightly flattened and has a pronounced scale with a silvery sheen. There are characteristic black dots near the head and tail. Along the whole body on the sides of the tiktu there is a bright red stripe, thanks to which it got its name.

It is she who determines the difference between a female and a male. In women, the strip is almost invisible. In males, it begins on the head and smoothly passes into the tail. Their eyes are also red. Especially the strip becomes noticeable during spawning. Dorsal and ventral fins of both sexes of the fish are orange with black spots.

Life expectancy in nature is from 2 to 3 years, while in home maintenance and with proper care barbs live 4 or even 5 years.

A lover of aquarium fish, who decided to replenish his collection of pets with a couple of scarlet barbs, must know a few rules.

1. These moving fish will need free space for games, so the minimum displacement of the aquarium is 50 liters.
2. Suitable indicators of water: temperature + 21 ... 25ºС; stiffness from 6 to 15 dH; acidity 6-7 pH.
3. A mandatory factor is the presence of an aerator and filter in the aquarium. By the way, the last one can create an imitation of a light current, for barbs this will be additional entertainment.
4. It also requires regular partial replacement of water at least once a week.
5. Tikto do not like direct sunlight, it is better to use a lamp for lighting.
6. Their home must be equipped with stones, shells, algae and other decorations. They can be unnatural, most importantly, non-toxic and safe.
7. Creating a cozy interior for the company of red barbs, you should not forget about the availability of sufficient free space.
8. There must be a lid on the aquarium, otherwise these nimble and agile fish can escape.
9. A couple of tiktos will be bored together. The minimum number of these fish for home keeping is 6 individuals.

In the natural habitat, these representatives of the water world are almost omnivorous. At the bottom, covered with a layer of silt, they look for small insects, their larvae or are content with particles of plants. At the same time, plant food alternates with food of animal origin, providing the body with all the necessary nutrients.

At home, feeding a barbecue is a pleasure. He is completely indiscriminate and eats everything he gives with appetite, whether it is frozen food, live or artificial. However, you need to make sure that the fish took 2 minutes to eat, and if the food is still left, it must be removed from the aquarium, since barbs are prone to overeating. You can periodically arrange fasting days.

For feeding, it is desirable to use special feeders, then food particles are much more convenient to extract from the water. It should also be controlled so that barbs do not swallow air with the food. It enters the intestines, thereby interfering with swimming and sinking to a depth.

It is also important to combine different types of food, giving them in turn. It is easy to calculate the gastronomic preferences of tikto by observing how they eat a particular type of food. It should be remembered that It’s better to slightly underfeed these fish than to exceed the diet.

For spawning, two males and a female are transplanted into a separate all-glass aquarium with a volume of 10 liters for 1.5-2 weeks. Pebbles are mandatory at the bottom, water is slightly warmer than in the main tank. It is important during breeding not to miss the moment when the female starts to spawn eggs, and the males - to fertilize them. Barbuses need to be removed in time so that they do not harm their own offspring, or pull a special mesh.The number of eggs ranges from 100 to 150.

Unfertilized caviar is painted white and clearly visible, it must be removed from the spawning. Kids appear in a day, but they are so small that you can hardly notice them. The fries will need food only on the third day of life, when they begin to swim. To do this, use an infusoria or microworm. "Live dust" or a steeply cooked and mashed yolk of a chicken egg is also suitable.

Odessa red barbus is a peace-loving creature, not prone to conflict, but before picking up neighbors for him in the aquarium, you need to take into account important points. First of all, you need to think about varieties of barbs, such as:

• cherry;
• green;
• Sumatran;
• black Diamond;
• fiery;
• mossy;
• striped.

A company of these representatives of the cyprinid family will look great against the background of lush, vibrant vegetation of the aquarium. Tikto coexist perfectly with diamond tetras, Malabar zebrafish, Congo, iris, labeo and mollies.

You should not hook up barbs to such fish:

• scalaria;
• cockerels;
• gourami;
• goldfish;
• guppies.

The long veil fins fluttering in the water, the nimble barbus perceives as a kind of food. Therefore, such a neighborhood can end sadly for owners of magnificent tails, a mustache this also applies.

For more information about the features of these fish, see the next video.