Five-belted Barb Desmopuntius pentazona wanted poster: Everything about keeping, breeding, care, origin and characteristics of five-belted barbel. Today we present you an ornamental fish from the carp fish category. There we recently also have the harlequin barb or the harlequin rasbora presented. Basically, you can find all the representatives of the barbels here. As always, let's start with the origin of the fish. For us aquarists, it is important to know the original way of life of the ornamental fish, because this is how they are kept in the aquarium.
Origin of the five girdle barbel
This fish will also not be found in the wild in our latitudes. For this you have to go to Asia again. There he lives in mostly calm waters. Five-belted redfish can be found on the banks of blackwater streams and Tierfland waters. Examples are the rivers on Sumatra like the Sungai Pakao. The main distribution area here extends to Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore and Kalimantan. The five-belted barbel is also very common on Sumatra.
Appearance and characteristics of the five girdle barbel
Now we come to the special characteristics of the ornamental fish. With us you will find the animals mostly in groups of 10 animals or more. You shouldn't hold them underneath either. The five girdle barbel is not a loner. Anyone who knows the size of the fish, around 5 cm, will quickly realize that they should not be kept in a 60 liter aquarium. We recommend tanks with a capacity of 200 liters or more. The animals can be up to 3 years old.
Of course, the special feature of the five-girdle barbel, as the name suggests, is the 5 black stripes on the body. These are not always the same and can vary. Nevertheless, this fish is quite easy to recognize but not distinguishable. But more on that below. The “belts” are usually easier to see on the males than on the females because they are much stronger. In addition, males are usually smaller than females. When you are young, it is difficult to determine gender.
The fish lives mainly in the wild in the area of the bottom. Therefore, one should also pay attention to this in the aquarium and also offer food in this area.
When it comes to socialization, you should be careful and use more calm species. Five-belted redfish can be a little shy, but we've found that a good group of animals helps here.
Sumatran mullet (four girdle mullet) or five girdle mullet?
The five-girdle barb is very often confused with the Sumatran barb. These are difficult to tell apart if you don't have a direct comparison. The Sumatran mullet can be found much more often than the five-girdle mullet among the traders. We have also attached two pictures. In the case of the Sumatran barb, only four stripes can usually be seen and these are also a bit thicker.
There is also another important difference. The mulatto barbel tends to start plucking at long-finned fish, while the five-belted barbel is less likely to do so. You can therefore also put them together with angelfish and other fish with rather long fins.
In the second picture you can see a five-belted mullet and in the first picture you can see the Sumatran mullet. Optically very difficult to distinguish, since the belts are sometimes more or less pronounced even in a five-girdle barbel.
Husbandry and food of the five-girdle barbel
Now let's get to the attitude. As far as the size of the aquarium is concerned, we have already described the requirements. Of course, you can use the five-girdle barb from 100 liters, but we still recommend larger tanks.
As for the temperature, this fish needs between 23 and 28 degrees. The five-girdle barbel feel quite comfortable at around 25 degrees.
The water should be rather acidic and not exceed a PH value of 7. If you can't do that, you have to lower the PH value accordingly. reverse osmosis water would be a possibility here. In addition, the hardness of the water should not exceed 12. In comparison to Sumatran mullet the requirements for the aquarium water are much more difficult to meet.
As far as feeding is concerned, live food such as cyclops, Artemia or other types are on the program. In addition, the animals also eat any kind of dry food. Plant-based food should also be given regularly.
Breeding of the five-girdle barbel
Finally, let's look at the breeding of the animals. Here you should have some experience with spawning fish, because you have to use the animals in pairs. A tank should be prepared accordingly for this purpose. Above all, the plants are very important here, because they should be very dense and reach up to the water surface, since the five-girdle barb lays their eggs in the upper part of the water. The larvae should hatch after about 1-2 days. The parents should be removed immediately, otherwise they would attack the young. They are then fed with appropriate rearing food and dust food.