A Test

[Mad Duff]

It is actually Barbus Foerschi I have seen a few and they are allways mixed in with Pentazona.

They were only recognised as a seperate species in 1982.

 

[Ethos]

Hmhmhm....We should play a game like this when fry come around...

 

[lljdma06]

I'm satisfied, I was pretty close. It was one of my guesses, just not the one I was leaning towards.

 

[The-Wolf]

It is actually Barbus Foerschi I have seen a few and they are allways mixed in with Pentazona.

They were only recognised as a seperate species in 1982.

interesting....
as I can't find a single picture, or even a description, of Barbus/Puntius Foerschi I will stick by the
original name.
prove it is a Barbus/Puntius Foerschi and I'll be a happy camper.

 

[Lateral Line]

I think the fish is quite obvioulsy a member of the Barbus pentazona clade. Whether or not you believe it to be a different species depends on whether you are a splitter or lumper.

Some taxonomists split species based on very small differences, whilst others will say the same differences are simply a regional variation.

In the case of foerschi, it is reported as having a very limited range in Kailimantan. I believe it to be a regional variation of p. pentazona, closer to p. rhomocellatus. I thus believe the situation to be at best subspecies...

Barbus pentazona pentazona
Barbus pentazona partipentazona
Barbus pentazona hexazona
Barbus pentazona rhombocellatus
Barbus pentazona foerschi

... the thing to do would be to establish the result of breeding them. "Barbus rhomobocellatus" for example, produces a very wide range of colouration patterns, some of which are identical to "Barbus foerschi" others resemble normally marked "Barbus pentazona" - this does not look good to me for elevating these to full species level.

I have not deliberately tried, but I suspect all of these "species" will happilly interbreed as their spawning behaviour is identical as are the conditions.

Of course, if they can be DNA sequenced that would be a start, but I suspect it is not a high priority.

 

[orientmatt]

Hmmmmm, the old trick of right clicking, then going to properties to find the name didnt work this time!

 

[OohFeeshy]

Hmmmmm, the old trick of right clicking, then going to properties to find the name didnt work this time!

I know, I tried going through the fish in his profile on Google Images, but I think I guessed first After the 'two subspecies' clue I got it on chat, but only after some Googling

 

[The-Wolf]

Hmmmmm, the old trick of right clicking, then going to properties to find the name didnt work this time!

I learnt that mistake
"once bitten, twice shy"

 

[Mad Duff]

I wasnt saying that yours is Foerschi but it is obviously of the Pentazona group, I have seen a couple in tanks the first I thought were poor examples of Pentazona then a friend from showed me one on a trade stand at a big show. The picture is scanned from the Baensch Aquarium Atlas book 3 page 190.

I would agree with LL in that it is probably a regional variation.

 

[The-Wolf]

pics posted here

 

[lljdma06]

So when's our next test, Wolf?