Shark's barbeque: description and content in the aquarium

This aquarium fish only a couple of decades ago began to divorce in Russia. In natural conditions, the shark's barbeque lives in the waters of Thailand and other countries of Southeast Asia. It prefers fast flow and fresh water. These fish are not only very active and unpretentious, but also voracious, so they can grow up to 40 cm. They were planted because of the unusual appearance and cheerful disposition. In addition, they are able to live about 10 years. True, in the content they are not very convenient, because they require an aquarium of a large volume: in captivity, fishes do not grow more than 15 cm, but live in packs.

Appearance of the shark's barbs

This fish belongs to the Cyprinidae family, so it reminds us a little of our roach, but on closer examination the differences are visible. Its narrow, elongated, laterally compressed body has a silvery-steel hue. All scales are large, shiny, and mirror. This fish looks very impressive, because it shines when it moves. The eyes of the sharbula are large, occupying almost the entire head. Fins transparent or yellowish, edged with a wide black stripe. Why is the fish called "sharks barbs"? The photo clearly shows that there is a marked resemblance to the marine predator by the shape of the body and the dorsal fin.

Character of the fish

Shark's barbus is very active and peaceful. He likes to live in a flock of at least 7 individuals. Excellent coexists with other large aquarium fish, for example, soma, minors, tetrami or other barbs. They are not snooty, but it is better not to hang veiled tails - they will remain without a tail. It is undesirable to keep small fish and fry along with them, since the sharks are very gluttonous.

A distinctive feature of the behavior of these fish - their increased jumping, they are even able to jump out of the aquarium. Another of their features is fearfulness. With a strong fright, they may even die. But all the same for many, the shark barbie became a favorite.

Contents in the aquarium

The fish is rather unpretentious, but in order for it to feel good,
You need to observe certain rules.

1. The aquarium for keeping shark barbs should be large - at least 200 liters in volume. After all, fish are fast, active, prefer to live in packs.
2. In the aquarium, you need to create at least a small current to bring the conditions of living fish to natural ones.
3. From above it must be covered, because these fish are very jumping.
4. It is necessary to create conditions for barbs that are close to natural ones. In an aquarium there should be a lot of plants, blockages from stones, branches, snags and other places for shelter. But free space for swimming, too, should remain.
5. Shark's barbs are used to living in running water, so it is necessary to arrange a good filtration. It is also desirable to change 30-40% of water more often. The temperature should be maintained at least 23 ^° C, since it is a southern fish.
6. Shark's barbeque prefers natural light, since this fish is fluorescent, it needs a light day of 8-10 hours.
7. At the bottom of the aquarium, fill an unbroken layer of light pebbles of medium size.

What do these shark fishes eat?

Barbuses are omnivorous: they actively eat both live and dry food. But they have weak digestion, so some foods are contraindicated. For example, bloodworms, chitinous shells of some insects and cheese. Be sure to feed shark barbs with plant food. Give them dried leaves of nettle, spinach, dandelion or salad. Feeding these fish is selected, mainly from the water column, so you can not give it much, otherwise they will not have time to pick it up.

Breeding of shark barbs

In captivity, these fishes reproduce very reluctantly. Almost all of them are brought from their homeland. To obtain from them offspring, you need to take into account some features of their reproduction.

1. To do this, it is necessary to take adult fish older than 4 years, the female must be at least 35 cm in size. They are selected at a young age by the brightness of the color and activity and are fed only by high-quality fodder.
2. For breeding, you need to use a very large aquarium, about 2 m in length. You need to put a few kilograms of Javanese moss and more snags on the bottom to bring the conditions closer to natural ones.
3. One female must have several males. To stimulate spawning, injections of hormones are used. In addition, it is provoked by changing the temperature and water hardness. It is impossible to say specifically at what parameters spawning is more successful. For all fish conditions are needed different, but usually it is a lowered temperature and softer water.
4. Immediately after spawning, adult fish are planted. Usually fry hatch from eggs in a day, and in a couple of days they start to swim. Feed them at this time Kolovratki and infusoria. Do not forget to change half the water daily to fresh with the same temperature and rigidity parameters.

Despite the small difficulties of breeding and keeping, the sharks barbs are a very funny fish. It is interesting to watch it, and an aquarium with such inhabitants will give you a lot of positive emotions.