Markings on juvenile puntius denisonii

[Laura]

I was planning on buying a red line barb to add to my little school - I have discovered they behave very badly as a pair, and am getting my group back up to 4. A local shop had very young ones - perhaps 2" long or so. Their markings were different than I am used to seeing, and I suspect that they are just so young that their vertical bands are still in the process of fading. Their tail colouring was also quite pale.

I remember a thread a couple of years ago about hybrid red line barbs that Emma had seen that had different markings, but have been unable to find the thread again. If anyone can find it, I would love the opportunity to look at the included pics again.

While I didn't take pics at the store, the remnants from the vertical markings looked similar to the second pic from Badman's Tropical Fish. http://badmanstropicalfish.com/profiles/profile128.html

Does anyone have any comments or recollections as to the hybrids and possible marking differences to help identify those that are the natural strain vs. hybrid?

[Martin Thoene]

I found this:

http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk ... hp?t=33815

It contains a link to the LOL post you describe, but the link doesn't work.

Look at these:

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/forums/lof ... t1945.html

I've found references to this article by Matt Clarke, but all links fail:

"The Red lined torpedo, Puntius denisonii (with details on an imposter species P. chalakudsiensi)"

I found this though:

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/c ... p?sid=2477

Interesting discussion here:

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/forums/lof ... /t428.html

The vertical bars are certainly different.

Picture from Badmans Tropical Fish

Martin.

[Laura]

Thanks very much Martin - those are interesting articles. I really appreciate you digging them up.

Puntius denisonii fry have vertical black bars that fade out as they age http://www.fishesninverts.com/blog/wp-c ... ys_fry.jpg and the ones in the store had less apparent bars than in the badman's picture - it was more of a residue of black at the top of where the bars had been. They were very small, so it is quite possible that they are just young.

The info on the P. chalakudsiensi is great, but makes me nervous about any fish with a bit of black in its dorsal, as that and a shorter nose seem to be the difference (as well as 2" bigger and grumpy).

I don't think they are the hybrids that I was worried about - I remember the hybrids as more similar to the article you linked to - a much shorter fish than the typical p. denisonii.

I'll have to go back to the store and have another look now that I'm better armed! Thanks again.

[piggy4]

Hi Laura, don't worry to much about Chalakudiensis as long as your tank is large enough i.e. 4ft then you should not encounter any aggression , I've got 6 in a 4ft tank and they are fine ,I have seen the aggression that was mentioned but it only really occurs when the fish have no real space i.e. too small a tank I really like mine they a quite beautiful though perhaps not quite as colourful as Denisoni , they are quite similar