Breeding Rosy Barbs

Rosy barbs are hardy, easy to spawn and a good beginner's choice if you wish to try breeding barbs. They look rather dull as juveniles, but adult males will develop a very attractive coloration where black and vivid shades of red contrasts sharply against each other. There is also a long-finned variant that looks even fancier.

Keeping your Rosy barbs on a nutritious and varied diet is recommended; you can for instance use high-quality flake food as a base and supplement it with brine shrimp and other small live or frozen meaty foods. Keep the water quality up by changing 50% of the water once a week.

If you want to set up a separate breeding aquarium, a 5 gallon tank is actually big enough. Move a ripe (i.e. big-bellied) female and a good looking, healthy male to the breeding aquarium and wait for them to spawn. It is advisable to include a few hiding spots in the aquarium to relieve stress and make the fish feel more at ease. A spawning mop should also be added. Keep the water temperature in the higher parts of the recommended range, preferably around 82 degrees F.  

If you miss the actual spawning, you will still able to tell that is has taken place since the female will slim down considerably afterwards. Catch the parents and move them back to their home aquarium to keep them from eating their offspring. 

Rosy barb fry normally hatches within 48 hours at 82 degrees F and the fry will be free swimming around day five. Free-swimming fry is big enough to eat newly hatched brine shrimp.

Young rosy barbs. Copyright www.jjphoto.dk

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