Kingdom Animalia Order Cypriniformes Genus Desmopuntius Higher classification Puntius | Phylum Chordata Family Cyprinidae Scientific name Desmopuntius pentazona Rank Species | |
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Similar Puntius, Black ruby barb, Checker barb, Rosy barb, Tiger barb | ||
Pentazona barbs look cool
Desmopuntius pentazona, the fiveband barb, is a species of cyprinid fish native to Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam.
Contents
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.
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).
The fish has commercial importance in the aquarium hobby and is frequently inaccurately referrered to as a tiger barb.
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.