I brought them home and put them in a ten gallon, weedy tank I've been keeping on my porch for the summer. It's under a car port so it never gets direct sunlight. I had a reasonable sized daphnia and copepod colony in this tank. I say had because within 24 hours they had wiped the colony out. These little guys have appetite.
They are also prone to jumping and repeatedly tried to do so. I would not open top these guys unless there was an intense cover of floating plants. From what i googled about their native range, the average temperature in January is 61 degrees. Though any care sheet style web posts puts them in the 75 degree range. either way my pair is spending the rest of the summer outside until i finish moving some tanks around to make room.
And room I'm hopefully going to need because by day two they were spawning. Or at least in the early morning I caught them assuming the inverted posture under the crypt leaves. I did not witness any eggs but this pair is really small so it may be a dry run for them or just the excitement of the move.
They seem easy enough to feed, though not as voracious as other barbs. They may become more savage at feeding time once they eat the tank out of inverts. The tank I'm planning on housing them in will be a thickly planted 20 hex, with paradise fish, peppered cories and oto cats, set at 75 degrees or so. I pretty sure a small colony could do well in a ten gallon tank. Heavily planted a must, my pair so far is very bold, I believe this is due to the heavy plant cover they know they can dive into if required.
I understand these little guys are fairly common in Europe and with their small size, interesting behaviors and outstanding looks i can see why.
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