rm
Passport
- Family
- Barbs
- Grows to
- 4.5 cm (1.8")
- Lives
- 3–5 years
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Care
- Beginner
- Swims
- Mid-water
- Keep
- In a group of 8 or more
- Water
- 16–25 °C (61–77 °F)
Myanmar
Care requirements
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On record for Odessa Barb: adult size, lifespan, minimum tank, temperature, ph, hardness, minimum group, diet, care level, swim level, tank length.
A figure that is not on record is left out rather than guessed. One marked Suggested comes from keeping knowledge rather than a page.
- Minimum tank 76 L / 20.0 US gal
- pH 6.5–8.5
- Hardness 5–20 dGH
- Diet omnivore
- Tank length 80 cm minimum
Care notes written from general aquarium knowledge, not from the cited sources.
About
Odessa barbs were a mystery for decades. They turned up in the aquarium trade in the seventies, apparently by way of a fish market in Odessa, with no known wild population and no scientific name — and it took another thirty-odd years for the species to be properly described and traced to central Myanmar.
The male is why anybody bothered. A broad brilliant crimson band runs the length of a silver-olive body, brightening to something close to scarlet when he displays, against finely speckled fins. Females are a plain silver with a couple of dark marks.
They're moderately peaceful — busier and more assertive than a cherry barb, far less trouble than a tiger barb. Keeping enough of them is what settles them.
Tank setup
Give your Odessas open swimming space with planting at the edges. They're active fish that spend the day cruising the middle of the tank.
Keep more females than males. Males display at each other constantly, flaring the red band, and a group with too few females turns that display into pursuit.
Keep the substrate dark and the lighting restrained. The red intensifies against a dark background and washes out under a bright lamp over pale gravel.
Keep them at the cool end. Like most of their relatives they're subtropical rather than tropical, and they colour better and live longer in cooler water.
They tolerate ordinary tap water without difficulty.
Feeding
Odessa barbs are enthusiastic omnivores that take anything offered.
Feed for colour deliberately. The red responds strongly to carotenoid-rich foods — frozen daphnia, bloodworm, brine shrimp and colour-enhancing flakes all deepen it, and a dried-only diet leaves males looking like females.
Include some vegetable matter. They'll graze soft plants otherwise.
Avoid: a plain flake diet, which is the usual reason someone's Odessa barbs never look like the photograph.
Filtration and flow
Moderate flow suits them and they're strong enough to use it.
Standard community filtration is plenty. They're hardy and adaptable.
Cool, well-oxygenated water with regular changes is the whole recipe. Nothing about their maintenance is difficult.
With plants
Odessa barbs are mostly safe with plants and will nibble soft growth if underfed on greens.
Tough species handle them easily — java fern, anubias, crypts, vallisneria.
Plant heavily at the back and sides. Males display more confidently when there's cover, and the contrast makes the red read better.
Health
They're hardy, adaptable and rarely ill, and their cool tolerance makes them forgiving of an unheated room.
A male that has lost his colour is usually stressed, too warm, or has no rival to display against. It's rarely a medical problem.
Ordinary community ailments turn up and respond to standard treatment.
Breeding
Odessa barbs spawn readily and the male's display is worth watching in its own right.
Condition a group on live food, then move a pair to a tank with a mesh floor or thick fine-leaved plants. They scatter adhesive eggs after a chase, typically in the morning.
Adults eat the eggs, so pull them out straight afterwards. The fry hatch in a couple of days and take infusoria before microworm and baby brine shrimp. They grow quickly and the males start showing colour surprisingly young.
Tank mates
Avoid9
- Convict Cichlid Convict Cichlid grows to 15 cm against Odessa Barb at 4 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Jewel Cichlid Jewel Cichlid grows to 15 cm against Odessa Barb at 4 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Pictus Catfish Pictus Catfish grows to 12 cm against Odessa Barb at 4 cm, big enough to eat it.
- Common Goldfish Common Goldfish is not safe with Odessa Barb: barbs and common goldfish are a bad pairing.
- Demasoni Cichlid Demasoni Cichlid is not safe with Odessa Barb: african cichlids and barbs are a bad pairing.
Only with care37
- Chinese Algae Eater Chinese Algae Eater is aggressive and Odessa Barb is peaceful.
- Amano Shrimp Odessa Barb is a risk to Amano Shrimp: barbs and shrimp and yabbies are a pairing to watch.
- Angelfish Angelfish is a risk to Odessa Barb: angelfish and barbs are a pairing to watch.
- Bamboo Shrimp Odessa Barb is a risk to Bamboo Shrimp: barbs and shrimp and yabbies are a pairing to watch.
- Betta Betta is a risk to Odessa Barb: barbs and betta (male) are a pairing to watch.
No conflict is recorded with the other 58 species in the database, so nothing to flag. 4 species are not covered at all, so they could not be judged either way.