The clown barb, Barbodes dunckeri, is a well-known and beautiful aquarium fish, but for decades it has been incorrectly called Barbus everetti, sometimes under the generic name Puntius, which is also incorrect for this species. The wrong name is based on a mix-up, the “real” Barbodes everetti is unfortunately almost never on the market (see https://www.aquariumglaser.de/en/fish-archives/barbus_everetti_real__en/).
Barbodes dunckeri originally comes from the Malaysian peninsula, where it is at home in smaller jungle rivers with soft, acidic water. Due to the progressive destruction of these biotopes, the clown barb must therefore unfortunately be counted among the species that are highly endangered by extinction. However, it has been reproduced for decades in commercial ornamental fish farms, from where all the animals on the market come.
The peaceful schooling fish grows to a length of 10-15 cm and should therefore be kept in a larger aquarium. As far as food is concerned, the species makes hardly any demands, dry, frozen and live food of suitable size is accepted. Soft aquatic plants are also consumed. The bottom of the aquarium should consist of fine sand at least in places, so that the barbels can dig typically for the species. The water temperature should be between 20 and 28°C, some dead leaves, peat or alder cones bring the beneficial humic substances into the water. For the care pH-value and hardness hardly play a role (extremes should however be avoided), but for breeding you have to set natural water values (pH below 6, hardness below 5°dGH).
For our customers: the animals have code 369702 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
