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how fast do denilson barbs grow?

anyone?

Presumably you mean denisoni barbs, so that would be sexually mature in 6 months to a year ( about half grown)and true adult size reached in about 2-3 years dependant on temperature and diet.Only a 5 -7 cm fish though, so no big worries.



Last edited by longhairedgit at 16-Dec-2005 21:15

thanks for the info, i was under the understanding they grew to almost double that?

Yeah, Puntius denisonii hit fourteen or fifteen centimeters in length, so they're decent-sized fish. I'm not sure how quickly they grow myself, and can only guess at the rate. I would estimate that this species reaches at least six cm long its first year, then slows a bit in growth after that. Of course, growth rate is influenced by many factors, including water temperature, tank space provided, cleanliness of water, and the foods given. Overall, I think that these fish are fairly quick to grow to their adult size.

Last edited by sirbooks at 17-Dec-2005 14:27

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

thanks, do you think i have room for 3 in the 70g on my profile, taking into account the danios and tetras are due to be removed before i add anything?

I'm inclined to say no, because of the size, schooling nature, and active swimming style of these fish. I think it would be best to have at least five to seven of the barbs, as they can be quite shy when young and when new to a tank. Once they grow, they become bolder and will be very active swimmers, perhaps stressing out your discus and Apistogrammas. Besides that, they possess fairly high metabolisms and have higher waste outputs than the smaller tetras and danios. Though these fish are beautiful and reputedly good community tank fish, I don't think they're right for your setup.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

sirb, possibly against your advise and before i read it i got 4, this is the way i want to go (active barb tank) and the discus and appistos will be found a new home if needs be, or i will buy another tank .
i know i now have a potentionally overstocked tank but as most of the fish are juveniles i have a couple of months to sort it out.

edit- make that3 denisoni, one didnt survive the move.

Last edited by hembo666 at 19-Dec-2005 13:01

No Idea. The smaller ones I have seem to be growing fast, but my 4 inch Denisons are growing slower. I have had the bigger ones for almost a year and they have grown about quarter of an inch.

Well then, just keep an eye on the situation and be sure that all of the fish are doing all right. Hopefully your other barbs will be fine. Good luck with them, and be sure to post up some pictures.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

UPDATE:

the other barbs are doing very well, they were hyper at 1st but but now seem happy.

sirb, i read your comments and have been watching carefully and i am comfused asim sure you might be reading this.
1st the discus, he is actively schooling with the denisoni although he struggles to keep up sometimes. (and this is the same fish that hid in a corner and would not move in a discus tank) STRANGE.

2nd, the male cac has already shown the new barbs there place as has the male BN. im still undecided if its the cac or the bn that runs the tank,

Sounds like they're doing fine. I was concerned for the cichlids because sometimes the less aggressive species can be intimidated by boisterous fish.

The discus may be hanging out with the barbs because discus are schooling fish. Since it has no discus buddies, it's making do with the barbs. It's not entirely unnatural for fish to try and school with another species.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Barbs in general have fairly decent growth rates, and i wouldn't expect denisoni to be vastly different from the typical run of Barbs. As cited above, the pattern tends to be pretty rapid growth while juvenile, then slowing down once maturity kicks in, but still growing at a sufficient rate to cause headaches if your aquarium isn't big enough for the adults. Remember also that many Barbs are, to quote Practical Fishkeeping magazine on the subject, "pigs with fins" - they'll munch just about anything edible that comes their way and in quantity if you mistakenly let them. The trouble being that Barbs will happily gorge, then excrete partially digested food out of the other end because they've eaten too much, resulting in a huge load on the biofilter. The trick with all Barbs, but most especially the larger ones, is to feed smaller amounts more frequently rather than big dinners once or twice per day. That way, they get the food they need to grow, but don't excrete undigested food and thus overload your biofilter. Feed enough for them to have consumed it all in about 2 minutes, then repeat at intervals throughout the day. This is a feeding régime I recommend for most fishes, as it corresponds better to the natural state (where the fishes in the wild have to forage constantly), but in the case of medium to large Barbs, frequent small feeds solves a LOT of management problems vis-a-vis biofilter overload and the need to gravel vac every two days, which becomes a real possibility if a tankful of decent sized Barbs is allowed to gorge!


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