Pentazona barb

Desmopuntius pentazona
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Cypriniformes
Family: Cyprinidae
Genus: Desmopuntius
Species: D. pentazona
Binomial name
Desmopuntius pentazona
(Boulenger, 1894)
Synonyms
  • Barbus pentazona Boulenger, 1894
  • Barbus pentazona pentazona Boulenger, 1894
  • Capoeta pentazona (Boulenger, 1894)
  • Puntius pentazona (Boulenger, 1894)
  • Systomus pentazona (Boulenger, 1894)

Desmopuntius pentazona,[1] the fiveband barb, is a species of cyprinid fish native to Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.[2]

The fish superficially resembles the tiger barb (D. tetrazona), except that there are five black vertical bands on an orange or gold body instead of four bands on the tiger barb. The fish will grow to a maximum length of 8.8 centimetres (3.5 in) TL.[2]

The fish lives natively in calm tropical waters in the lowlands in water with a 5–6 pH, a water hardness of 5–12.0 dGH, and a temperature range of 74–84 °F (23–29 °C).[2]

The fish has commercial importance in the aquarium hobby and is frequently inaccurately referrered to as a tiger barb.[2]

Pentazona barbs are egg-scatterers that spawn among a course gravel bed in open water. Once spawning is finished, they will usually eat any of the approximately 200 eggs that they find. It is usually necessary to separate the fish from the eggs after spawning in order to prevent the eggs from being eaten. The eggs will hatch in approximately 1 day.

In the aquarium

The pentazona barb is a harmless, active schooling fish that is usually kept in groups of 5 or more. They prefer a well planted environment with rocks and driftwood but still need plenty of space to school.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Kottelat, M. (2013): The Fishes of the Inland Waters of Southeast Asia: A Catalogue and Core Bibliography of the Fishes Known to Occur in Freshwaters, Mangroves and Estuaries. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, 2013, Supplement No. 27: 1–663.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2013). "Systomus pentazona" in FishBase. October 2013 version.
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