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The parameters for what qualifies as your "favorite cyprinid" is all up to you. Write down (linking is optional) on here what your favorite specie is. With that in mind: what's your favorite cyprinid? Mine is the Zebra Danio.

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Born in radioactive waters, the Mutant Goldfish swims...
Check out my profile to see my tank setup(s)!

mine will have to be bala sharks or tinfoils.

There's no doubt in my mind... Tiger Barbs, Regular, Green and Albino... There's no better cyprinids in my opinion. Just make sure their tankmates can withstand the incessant harrassment!

I have both Harlequine Rasboras and Bala Sharks. My favorite of the two is the Harlequins. I have a school of 11 of them. They have been a very hardy fish and have brought color to my tank. If I can ever find them the Torpedo barbs are a fish I have always wanted. I can never find them in the LFS and don't want to order them online. Someday I will find some though.

"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

RED TAILED BLACKSHARK,the fella ive have atm,is truely a very nice fish,midnight black,with a fire red tail.he is easy going,robust,i just love him....

I've always been rather partial to gold barbs and WCMM. I like gold barbs cause of the color and personality, wcmm because of their temp range and activity levels.

I had a bala shark for a while, that came with a 30 gallon tank, sadly the poor guy was too far gone by the time i took over the tank to get him through. With the right sized tank I'd love to have a school of them, and some sort of rasbora... they're rather pricey down here from what i've seen.

^_^

the one i have...Gold White Cloud

I definatley love gold barbs, tiger barbs and tinfoil barbs... if i had a big enough tank i would love to have a large school of tinfoils and balasharks.

the gold barbs are great and hardy! they've been through so many moves, shocks, and being dropped!

i lucked out buying some cheap little fish and finding some hardy and easy going fish! now just to get them to breed!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Hard to pick just one favourite..

I think it would have to be the "sharks". I have had Balas and a RTB and I currently have a Black Shark. They are all amazing and gorgeous!! Cyprinids are my favourite fish family and I would love to keep so many different kinds there is not enough room to write them all.

EXCEPT for TIGER BARBS. I would never keep Tiger Barbs of any kind or colour, period.

Off the top of my head, id have to say Hampala sp..
From this:

to this:

James

I still love my Tiger Barbs! lol

BLACK RUBY BARBS, yeah baby!

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Kelly, I've got Black Rubys, awesome fish as well.. They do well with my "fleet" of Tigers

Bala Sharks, Flying Fox, and Siamese Algae Eater. Though I've only ever had Bala Sharks, I'd love a Flying Fox and a Siamese Alge Eater. Perhaps in a bigger tank if I can ever get one.

must be white cloud mountain minnows, best breeders eva!!!

For the time being, Danio margaritatus is my fave cyprinid.

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The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

Favourite Cyprinid? Let's see ... I can nominate several candidates here.

Siamese Algae Eaters, Crossocheilus siamensis, come high on my list, as I've had these for some time now. A fish with many virtues and few vices. Hardy, a dependable algae eater, much more attractive to look at than CAEs (which become lazy in old age anyway and ultimately grow too big for most home aquaria), playful without being aggressive, and an excellent choice of fish if you have certain troublesome varieties of algae in need of biological control. However, these fish grow fast, and those tiny little 1-inch juveniles you sometimes see at the dealer's can quickly become 5-inch fish - indeed, the growth rate is astonishing if you haven't seen these fish in action development wise before! Additionally, aquarists will find that they get the best out of their SAEs if the aquarium contains some confident middle and top swimming fishes, because in the wild, SAEs use the presence of fish swimming above them as an indicator of how safe it is to venture out into open water, and the moment the fish in the upper water levels disperse and disappear, the SAEs bolt for the nearest hiding places too. Consequently, if you keep them on their own, without middle and top swimming companions, they become shy and retiring, and so they're best kept with fishes such as active but peaceful Barbs, or Giant Danios, to provide them with the reassurance that it's safe to come out. They'll also coexist happily with the likes of Pearl Gouramis, and once again, they'll show themselves to advantage when they have upper-level playmates to reassure them that there are no predatory birds swooping down on them from above.

Among the Barbs, a particular favourite of mine is a real rarity, one that's perilously difficult to obtain here in the UK, and one that only reaches a modest adult size, which means it's an excellent choice for something like a 15 gallon aquarium. Barbus gelius is a lovely little fish, again with much to recommend it, but if you fancy trying this species out, be prepared for a long hunt to find some, because they're not easily bred in captivity. According to an old book I have by a Dutch aquarist (1960s vintage), this fish may require a soft substrate into which to bury its eggs, which if true, means it's a spawning novelty, which accounts for the captive breeding difficulties, but I have yet to see this confirmed. Another factor that probably contributes to the breeding difficulties is that this fish reputedly likes temperatures at the lower end of the tropical scale, and breeds at a lowly 22 degrees Celsius, which means that keeping them with sauna-loving fishes such as Venezuelan Rams is out of the question. This will also have an impact upon potential aquarium companions, which should be selected from species with s preference for cooler than average water temperatures - some of the smaller hillstream loaches may prove to be suitable tankmates for this species. Apparently, success with this fish is likely to be enhanced if peat filtration is employed, particularly if you aim to breed this rarity, and it's advisable to secure a firm order from your dealer for this fish, so that you can build a decent sized shoal of 12 or more fishes, because this species exhibits a strong preference for being kept in numbers. However, if you're willing to fulfil its demands, it will reward you handsomely.

Another rarity to look out for that is on my list is a fish that is incongruously known here in the UK as the Sri Lanka Fire Barb, despite the fact that it isn't a Barb at all, but a Rasbora - Rasbora vaterifloris to be precise. Overcollecting has led to this fish being placed on the CITES list, which means that you'll have to hunt for captive bred specimens (at a suitably high price), and again, it's likely to be extremely difficult to obtain. But it's worth the hunt, because this fish is a little firecracker colour wise, and in the right setting, soon shows why it was overcollected in the first place, because it really does become a resplendent sight once acclimatised to an aquarium suited to it. It's something of a specialist fish, though, being a lover of higher temperatures, and it also prefers a well-planted aquarium with a good selection of live plants, along with soft, acid water and peat filtration. It's fairly demanding, and even more so if you want to try breeding it, but if you persevere with this fairly high-maintenance member of the Rasboras, again, it will reward your diligence, and you'll be glad I pointed you at it. Be advised that it likes relatively low lighting conditions as well (not surprising for an inhabitant of rainforest streams shaded by dense canopy in the wild), which means that your plant choices will be restricted to Cryptocorynes, Java Ferns and Java Moss for its aquarium, but in such a setting, it comes into its own. I've been looking for this fish here in the UK for 30 years, and haven't seen it once, which should give you an idea how hard it is to obtain!

More likely to be obtainable in the dealer's is another Rasbora worth looking out for, Rasbora borapetensis, which again is a big item on my 'wish list' for the future when I start moving into Cyprinids in a big way, and one which is relatively hardy as well as being attractive. Whilst being relatively hardy, and easier to integrate into a more general community, this is a fish that deserves some special attention, so that you see it at its best. It's less fussy about shade than Rasbora vaterifloris, and so it'll live under the lighting required to keep Amazon Swords going, but it's worth setting up a planted aquarium to show this fish's contrasting black and yellow stripe, plus bright red tail fin, to advantage, and then keeping a shoal of 12 or more, so that you can see this fish display itself at its best. Do that, and this fish will put on a show of colour that will make you a fan of big shoals from that day on!

I'm also quite a fan of Red Tailed Black Sharks, Epalzeorhynchus bicolor, and let's face it, that colour scheme brings it a LOT of fans, and well-deserved popularity. Trouble is, though, this is one of those fishes that needs the tank to be planned around it. Hardiness isn't a problem, it's a tough fish, but its temperament makes prior planning for its long term housing highly advisable. Small juveniles don't show much sign of the behaviour to come, but once it starts putting on some body mass, this fish starts to assert itself. It is very definitely going to be one of the dominant characters in any aquarium it lives in. Provide this fish with a lot of cave type shelters to choose from, be very careful about trying to integrate it with other bottom dwellers as it is strongly territorial as an adult, and be prepared to give it the sizeable quarters that will do it justice in the long term. Ideally, start it off in a 55 gallon setup, and make it the centrepiece of a community consisting of a relatively small number of similar sized fishes (plan for companions of around 8 inches SL as adults). Do NOT make the mistake of trying to integrate it with SAEs, as the SAE's will end up being beaten to death, and likewise, if you're thinking of having any catfishes or loaches sharing its aquarium, you'd better choose tough ones that can look after themselves. It's capable of living alongside fishes up to and including the aggression level of Convict Cichlids, and is capable of holding its own even against these, so if you're planning on keeping this long term, go for as much aquarium space as you can afford (a long, shallow aquarium being the best choice, to maximise the floor space), arrange the decor to break up lines of sight as you would for Cichlids, provide a LOT of bogwood caves for it, and if you keep any other bottom dwellers with it, go for tough ones such as Raphael Cats, then make sure that each has a place to call its own. Long term, think of 55 gallons as a baseline volume, and if you can give this fish a 75 or larger, do so. Provide it with companions that are either a similar size, or if they're smaller, make them fast moving ones that can escape its attentions if it becomes fractious. Bear in mind also that if cared for properly, a Red Tailed Black Shark can be a 10 year maintenance proposition with ease, and may even make it to 15 years of age in the right setting.

Finally, I'll mention my recent acquisition, the Arulius Barb, Barbus arulius, which is settling in nicely with my SAEs. This fish is turning out to be really interesting to watch. They started off being fairly typical Barb type shoaling fishes, and they're not in the least bit concerned about the fact that my SAEs are much larger than they are, as their willingness to stay out in the open and make the water boil with activity at feeding time demonstrated all too well! However, now that they've discovered that they're the only midwater fishes in that aquarium, they're starting to explore the foliage and look for tasty titbits amid the Java Moss, and indeed they're showing signs of being real personality fishes, to an extent that may not usually be associated with schooling species. Later on, as adults, they're going to colour up nicely, and I'm looking forward to seeing them develop that purple lustre all over, and I'm also hoping that they'll find conditions sufficiently to their liking to think about spawning. This is a fish I had a couple of doubts about acquiring initially, but eventually decided to take the plunge, being desperate to give my SAEs some playmates, and thus far, the decision has been a good one. I'm looking forward to seeing these fish turn into nice showy adults.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002