Cherry Barb

Puntius titteya
These fish can be territorial towards their own kind, so it is wise to keep them in pairs rather than as a group predominated by one sex. Provide good filtration and thickets of plants, allowing each pair a separate retreat. Males are far more intensely coloured than females. In breeding condition the males turn a dark cherry red while female are a duller red-brown. Today, virtually all trade specimens are farm-produced.
They eat small live and frozen such as bloodworm and mosquito larvae. Green foods preferred.
Cherry barbs grow up to 5 cm. Water temp. should be around 25'C with pH 7.

Photo by Dusko Bojic.