A Reasonably Peaceful Little Fish
Black RubyBarbFact Sheet The "Black RubyBarb", "Puntius nigrofasciatus", is a hardy fish suitable for a community aquarium as long as care is exercised in the selection of the other fish. Other common names for fish are "Purple Headed Barb" and Ruby Barb". Another Scientific name that has been used is Barbus nigrofasciatus. The Black RubyBarb comes from Sri Lanka. It grows to about two and a half inches (7 cm) long.
Water Conditions The Black RubyBarb prefers reasonably soft, slightly acidic water. It will
still be fairly comfortable with neutral water (pH 7). Its ideal
temperature range is 21-26oC (70-79oF). It will take a little higher for short periods.
In the wild, it schools
in slow flowing streams and rivers with abundant vegetation. Their
plants should be very well planted with some free space for swimming. The Black RubyBarb does not like dirty water with a lot of fish wastes and
regular partial water changes are a good idea. It is also one of the
fish more susceptible to "Ich" (White Spot). You need to watch out for
this disease and be ready to treat for it. Food The Black RubyBarb is an omnivore. It will eat any normal fish food, but
live food is preferred and if possible some mosquito larvae, blood worms, Daphnia or other suitable sized live food should be given.
Frozen Blood worms are also good and may be easier to obtain and store
than live food.
Companions Black Ruby Barbs are schooling fish and should be kept in schools
of at least six fish. Although not the most aggressive fish kept in
aquaria, they can nip the fins of slow moving fish. I would avoid
putting it with long finned fish like Siamese Fighting Fish, Guppies and Endlers Guppies. Some suitable companions for a school of Black Ruby
Barbs are Gold Barbs, PristellaTetras, Rummy Nose Tetras , Harlequin
Rasboras, Scissortail Rasboras, Lemon Tetras , Black Widow Tetras,
Emperor Tetras, Head and Tail Light Tetras, Glass Bloodfin Tetras,
Swordtails, Platies, Zebra Danios, Glowlight Tetras and White Cloud
Mountain Minnows as well as the Corydoras catfish like the Peppered
Catfish.
I would not recommend them as companions for
Mollies, Cherry Barbs, Neon Tetras and Cardinal Tetras. The reason I do
not recommend them for aquariums with Mollies is the big differences in
water requirements. Also avoid large and predatory fish with Black Ruby Barbs.
Breeding The
Male Black RubyBarb changes color when it is ready to breed. In this
state, it becomes clear why it is called things like the Purple Headed Barb. The males get an intense red- black color and tend to be a bit
bigger than the females. The females are a little plumper than the
males. The Black RubyBarb is an egg scatterer, and lays its
eggs over plants, preferably fine leaved ones. The water for spawning
should be soft and moderately acidic with a temperature of about 27 C
(80 F). Typically they will spawn first thing in the morning. About
400 eggs per female should be laid. By using marbles on the bottom of
the tank, most of the eggs should fall out of reach of the parents. As
with many fish, Black Ruby Barbs eat their own eggs and babies. It is
usual to remove the parents after spawning. Baby Care
Keep the eggs dark until they hatch. The eggs hatch in about one day, and are free swimming after about a week.
The
babies will eat protozoa (infusoria) at first and this can be
supplemented with the finest fry foods. As they grow, the babies can be
fed bigger fry food and will be helped to grow by suitable sized live
food like screened daphnia.
Pest Fish
As with all captive fish, do not allow them to get out into ecosystems they are not native to.
Sources
I am grateful to Brooklands.Co.Nz, MungaBay.com, Central Pets.com and The Tropical Tank for information about the Black RubyBarb.
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Black Ruby Barb
By Photo by and (c)2004 Derek Ramsey(Ram-Man) (Own work) [GFDL 1.2 (www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
