# Cherry Barbs Anyone?



## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Well, i can't say im proud... I went to my LFS specifically looking for another Angelfish and instead came home with 6 cherry barbs. This was a complete impulse buy on my part and i was not planning on this, but i got them, 3 males and 3 females. Anyone have anything that i should know about these guys? I know that someone here has a really good wealth of knowledge about keeping these.

Still No camera


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

I think they are one of the most underrated, and best, community fish available. When they mature and settle in, both the females and the males are stunningly beautiful. You will enjoy them. I generally try and keep them in a 2m/4f ratio, but you should be fine with what you have.


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

The lady at my LFS also said that they are highly underrated community fish and that was what put me over the edge, also the reds on the males are absolutley stunning and the females are a really nice amber color, i think it was a better pick than another angel would have been


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

the females will get really red as well when in breeding dress. These are very docile, as well, for barbs. I do think you will enjoy keeping them.


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## tiggity (Feb 21, 2012)

I have them and are my favorite in my tank. Very peaceful and hardy. With dark substrate and background along with live plants, they are a nice contrast and their color really pop.

At one point during a visit to my LFS, they had long finned variety and I'm kicking myself for not getting them.


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Well they are continuing to acclimate as this is going on and so far i like them, my angelfish is being a pain and screwing with them in the bag but it should be better in a bit when they get into the tank, doesnt seem to bother them much


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Is it normal that the males will school more than the females will, i know that they arent really schoolers but...


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## gabysapha (Oct 26, 2011)

Jealous! They're beautiful fish in heavily planted tanks. And they're easy to breed- makes for a fun project. 
I'd like to set up a tank one day using them as the centerpiece. 

Have you seen long-fin cherry barbs? Pete Mang of Lotsoffish has them for sale on occasion. I've never won an auction for them but they're next on my wishlist!


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

gabysapha said:


> Jealous! They're beautiful fish in heavily planted tanks. And they're easy to breed- makes for a fun project.
> I'd like to set up a tank one day using them as the centerpiece.
> 
> Have you seen long-fin cherry barbs? Pete Mang of Lotsoffish has them for sale on occasion. I've never won an auction for them but they're next on my wishlist!


I've seen The long finned ones but my LFS didnt carry them, it was sort of a bummer but i am very happy with the regular ones, they add a lot of movement to the tank which i like very much. If i get a 20 up ad going one of these days i will probably do just cherry barbs as my schooling fish in the tank, i think that would look really cool


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## ~firefly~ (Nov 16, 2012)

I have 29 of these in my 120 litre. I love them. Lovely fish, really easy to care for - and excellent community nature. :smile:


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

Yes, I agree a very underrated fish for planted tanks. I had 16 outside for the summer. When I brought them in the color intensity was unbelievable. Very deep red on the males the female were a deep coper color. I put 2- trios in my 40. The most dominate male got a goldfish color patch on his nose when the females were gravid. I've had one spawn in the tank that I'm aware of and I have one, now 1" female that survived.

I offer Seaweed sheet strips 1 or two times a week. I get them 16 in a pack from PetCo but they look suspiciously the same as Nori sheets for Sushi. :icon_roll

They are living with Cherry & Amano shrimp without issue. I'm sure they pick off the Amano Zoe and the occasional baby Cherry shrimp. I al;so have a SAE and a few Neon Gobys...no problems there either.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

I keep cherry barbs. In the beginning when I first started my main tank I put 6 of them in there and every month or so a little fry would appear out of nowhere. As I redid and redid my system the males perished and I was left with 2 females. As I was wandering around petsmart one day I noticed that they had them on sale for $1 so I picked up 2 males and 2 females and put them in the quarantine tank, thinking that the females would appreciate the company. One week to the day I see a crap-ton of fry swimming in the java moss. So I scooped the adults out and put them in the main tank. I now have 40+ cherry barbs almost ready for market! 

Love the little suckers.....


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## gabysapha (Oct 26, 2011)

DogFish said:


> I offer Seaweed sheet strips 1 or two times a week. I get them 16 in a pack from PetCo but they look suspiciously the same as Nori sheets for Sushi. :icon_roll


I actually feed my fish straight up nori. It hasn't killed them, so I guess it's fine. One bite of nori for me, one bite for the fish....


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

i breed the long finned ones as well


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

I used to feed nori to my marine fish. I was going to use it to feed the FW fish too but I got the hint that there's a lot of sodium in it so I decided against it. I don't know if that's a valid issue or not.


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

now to breed these little guys how should i go about it?
Should i take them out of my larger tank and set up a 10 gallon and put in say a male and 2 females, java moss the heck out of the tank? Also what should i do to trigger breeding behaviors?


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

good food and clean water will trigger behavior. They are egg scatterers, and will voraciously eat their own eggs and fry. Because of this it is best to set up a breeding tank, and have another tank available fro either moving the fry, or the parents.
I put latchhook mesh in a u-shape in the bottom of a small breeding tank (5g). I put a lot of moss on top of the mesh. This way, as the barbs drop the eggs, they fall through the mesh. It is easy to lift the mesh to see if there are eggs, and when there are, the parents can be removed, and the mesh lifted out to raise the fry.


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

msjinkzd said:


> good food and clean water will trigger behavior. They are egg scatterers, and will voraciously eat their own eggs and fry. Because of this it is best to set up a breeding tank, and have another tank available fro either moving the fry, or the parents.
> I put latchhook mesh in a u-shape in the bottom of a small breeding tank (5g). I put a lot of moss on top of the mesh. This way, as the barbs drop the eggs, they fall through the mesh. It is easy to lift the mesh to see if there are eggs, and when there are, the parents can be removed, and the mesh lifted out to raise the fry.


I like your method, i might try it and see how it goes, thanks


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

msjinkzd, I would love to see a picture of that latch hook if you have one. I mean in the tank - when you say U-shape is it upside down? Or...I'm just trying to get a visual on it. I have plenty of cherry barbs! HELP! But I was thinking toward the future. I'd like to breed some flag fish.


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

I dont have a current picture, so i made a REALLY fancy drawing (laugh away, the tank lights are off).

I put moss int he middle. Having it in the "U" shape gives the fish swimming room and allows for the eggs to fall through. Building a false bottom out of mesh works too, but this is SUPER easy to remove and poke around to check for eggs
.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

No that's great - makes a goof proof (almost!) way to remove the parents too.

YOU WIN THE DRAWING CONTEST TOO!!



Thank you


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

Can you tell I have a bachelors in the fine arts (no, seriously, I do)? LOL, clearly, there was not digital arts when I was in college!

Hope it helped  

And yes- makse it very easy to get the parents out of the tank


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## Shangrila (Oct 13, 2012)

msjinkzd said:


> I dont have a current picture, so i made a REALLY fancy drawing (laugh away, the tank lights are off).
> 
> I put moss int he middle. Having it in the "U" shape gives the fish swimming room and allows for the eggs to fall through. Building a false bottom out of mesh works too, but this is SUPER easy to remove and poke around to check for eggs
> .
> View attachment 58588


You missed your true calling!


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## Green_Flash (Apr 15, 2012)

I kept a group when I first started with freshwater years ago, they were great little fish!


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

The pre-historic days, in the time before laptops & lattes, we would condition the female(s) in a tank with marbles covering the bottom. When the female(s) were gravid the males were added. After the spawn all adults were moved out. The eggs that fell between the marbles survived.

The downside today is no one under 50 even knows what a marble is. I think all the marbles we had as kids must be in museums.

In my 40 I have patches of Taiwan Moss growing at the base of my crypt patches. Just enough cover for baby shrimp and the occasional fry. I do take a Darwinistic approach to that tank. :smile:


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

i was going to suggest marbles, as well, but it is easier to keep the tank bottom clean using my SUPER FANCY $1 latch hook method, lmao.

p.s. I still ahve a 5g bucket of marbles- I use them to spawn synodontis cats


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

I traded all my cat's eyes for steelies....sigh


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## LyzzaRyzz (Nov 6, 2012)

Cherry barbs are one of my favorite fish. I recently lost all of mine, I have horrible luck with them. I'm guessing it my LPS's cherry barb supplier, as that's where I got all of mine, about six months ago. The females dropped like flies, some for apparently no reason. The boys all schooled together in the end, and I was going to set up a species tank for just them, so I moved them all back to the QT tank, and then they all came down with ich and died within a day or two. 
I miss them, they were such awesome fish!
When I find another supplier, I'm going to snatch more up!


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## supergreeneye (Oct 29, 2011)

i was reading this thread and all the info is good i was wondering how many i should put in a 7.9 gal or should i go with a smaller type of fish entirely i just had an ammo spike and lost all my rasboras and am looking to restock with some barbs all your opinions would be grate currently there are two ottos and a molly im getting rid of the molly tuesday


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## zankotsu (Jul 26, 2012)

My 4 LF cherries have survived a 4 hour car ride and one of them I found dried up on the floor. I caught her just in time and she was able to be revived and rejoin the tank. Now I can't even tell which of them made the jump.


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

supergreeneye said:


> i was reading this thread and all the info is good i was wondering how many i should put in a 7.9 gal or should i go with a smaller type of fish entirely i just had an ammo spike and lost all my rasboras and am looking to restock with some barbs all your opinions would be grate currently there are two ottos and a molly im getting rid of the molly tuesday


For breeding that tank would be ok, butlong term I think it is too small.

If you really want barbs, iwould look into west africans like Barbus hulstaerti or jae.


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Yes! I have a Camera I can use! I will try and add pictures of the fish and a separate breeding tank if I ever get there


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## supergreeneye (Oct 29, 2011)

ms my lfs doesnt have the butterfly barbs are there any other suggestions for fish i was thinking ether some neons or mabey some skirt tetras


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

supergreeneye said:


> ms my lfs doesnt have the butterfly barbs are there any other suggestions for fish i was thinking ether some neons or mabey some skirt tetras


For a 7 gallon i would say Celestial Pearl Danios, good fish for nano tanks. Skirt tetras are too large but a school of 4 or 5 neons could possibly work


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

I hope these pictures work. These are a few of the fish i got, sorry if the quality isnt the best but im using what i could get my hands on, its an old canon


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

man that female looks ready to breed! the male too. Beautiful


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

msjinkzd said:


> man that female looks ready to breed! the male too. Beautiful


Ill be setting up a 10 gallon specifically for breeding these guys in the near future. I might try and let them breed in my main tank first before i stress them out again by chasing them around the tank. Ive been heavily feeding them and doing a large batch of frozen Bloodworms today so hopefully that, a slight temp increase and a long duration of lights off will trigger some breeding. Ill keep this thread updated on how the breeding process is going, as well as many pictures.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Now that my brood has grown out a bit, I notice that 4-5 of them are really dark and look almost like a red-tailed black shark. I wonder if this is a desirable color and if so if it's possible to breed them for this trait? Any idea?


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

m00se said:


> Now that my brood has grown out a bit, I notice that 4-5 of them are really dark and look almost like a red-tailed black shark. I wonder if this is a desirable color and if so if it's possible to breed them for this trait? Any idea?


I do think its possible to breed them for their traits. Look at dogs for example, People took a dog that looked, Say Tan, and bred it with another dog that was Tan To try and get another Tan dog... I don't know how clear that is but i believe it would work with fish, so in terms of fish, take 2 opposite sex fish that have desirable traits, breed them and the chances of having a fish with the same traits is pretty good.

I do believe it is called Selective Breeding


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Hahaha, my tanks light has been out for about an hour, i flicked on the room's light and saw them mating, what luck! i've had them for 3 days now, since i dont have the breeding tank set up i dont think any will survive but it's good to know that they are ready and willing to breed!


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

I bred mine to be redder and have long fins. Here is a male:








I am sure that you will get them to breed in your tank, but the other fish (especially the cories) will love the free caviar!


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

msjinkzd said:


> I bred mine to be redder and have long fins. Here is a male:
> View attachment 58706
> 
> 
> I am sure that you will get them to breed in your tank, but the other fish (especially the cories) will love the free caviar!


Im sure my cories had a blast last night! but that fish looks great! i like how you bred them specifically for longer fins and a redder color. Beautiful fish


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## Siggav (Jun 29, 2009)

I had 6 cherry barbs, only one left now but she's almost 7 years old. I beat the statistics and ended up with 6 females so no breeding, very easy fish to care for and fun. I'm not going to get more for a bit because I've had them for years now and have penguin tetras instead as my main schooler in my 50g tank but yeah cherry barbs are awesome little fish.


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Siggav said:


> I had 6 cherry barbs, only one left now but she's almost 7 years old. I beat the statistics and ended up with 6 females so no breeding, very easy fish to care for and fun. I'm not going to get more for a bit because I've had them for years now and have penguin tetras instead as my main schooler in my 50g tank but yeah cherry barbs are awesome little fish.


I can totally agree, i havent had these for long but they are already becoming one of my favorite fish


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Im going to try and set up their breeding tank today, ill get video or pictures of it when im done


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

msjinkzd - I was wondering (and searching!) where you got your latch hook stuff? Would needlepoint canvas work too? I'm about to set up a maternity tank, and I also need some stiffer, plastic-y grid material to lay over the tops of my new white worm cultures.

Thanks!


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## msjinkzd (May 12, 2007)

yea, absolutely. I think i bought it at walmart, of all places but it could have been AC Moore (craft store). They just need to cover the bottom of the tank and form a bow shape, to allow for the eggs to drop through.


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Cherry barb update...

I plan on getting the tank for breeding set up ASAP, i've been extremely busy and haven't had a lick of time, or space, to do so. All the fish are well, i'm nearly sure they have bred in my main tank 2 times, mabey more, i don't know how often they breed.


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Update! I decided to start a video series of this and upload a video every week or so giving an update on the Cherry barbs, heres a link to the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhkC7cg8cKo, they're doing great 2 Gravid and about ready to go anyday now, feeding a lot and with frozen blood worms, seems to do the trick. I hope i can eventually get one to survive in the main tank but until i get my breeding tank setup this will be the way it will be.


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

http://www.petsuppliesplus.com/


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

m00se said:


> http://www.petsuppliesplus.com/


Oh man Moose, your killing me! Hahaha  I might need help convincing my parents another tank is a good idea


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

Just tellem matter-of-factly that you need a nursery for your babies


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## ADJAquariums (Jul 5, 2012)

Hahaha they wouldn't buy it, thanks for the help. looks like i need to take down my baitfish tank and use that instead


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