Pentazona Barbs Alright In Alkaline Water?

[Shifty1303]

heya!
 
gonna be stocking up with a shoal of 10-12 barbs soon but cant decide which to go with due to water parameters.
 
my favourite barb is the pentazona and i would love to keep a big shoal of these in my new tank but everywhere i read they are listed as preferring pH 6.0-7.0. on the other hand i also do like checker barbs which i see recommended for pH 6.5-7.5. are these figures right or is there wiggle room?
 
ideally id like to have pentazona barbs but if a slightly alkaline pH is going to affect their long term health then ill get checker (assuming the <7.5 pH is correct)
 
ive kept pentazona before and they seemed alright but since then i have become more and more concious of the slight parameter preferences of all fish (yay finally!) and want to do whats best for the fish overall
 
also i plan to keep them with cory cats and dwarf neon rainbows eventually if that has any bearing whatsoever.
 
thanks for any advice!!

 

[Byron]

I would only keep this fish in very soft water (the GH is actually more significant for the fish) which is on the acidic side with respect to the pH.  The habitat waters for which the fish's physiology is designed are peat swamps, blackwater streams, and still waters thick with vegetation, all of which give the water its characteristics.
 
Byron.

 

[Shifty1303]

I would only keep this fish in very soft water (the GH is actually more significant for the fish) which is on the acidic side with respect to the pH.  The habitat waters for which the fish's physiology is designed are peat swamps, blackwater streams, and still waters thick with vegetation, all of which give the water its characteristics.
 
Byron.

 
but the checker barbs would fare better?
 
thanks for the response

 

[Byron]

You're welcome, and to answer your question, yes.  This species, Puntius oligolepis, comes from different water parameters, and it is commercially raised.
 
Another barb of about the same size as these two which I find especially beautiful and interesting is the Black Ruby Barb, Pethia nigrofasciata (formerly classified in Puntius).  This is a real gem among barbs.  If you are not familiar with it, have a look at some photos.  It will manage in similar water.
 
Byron.

 

[Shifty1303]

aah ok that makes sense. i forget that not all barbs share the same natural habitat sometimes real shame as i just love the pentazona barbs and they would provide wonderful colour contrast to my dwarf neon rainbows when i get them; checkered offer a little less colour diversity in that sense but still a lovely fish.
 
that black ruby barb looks amazing! shall see if i can hunt any down near me as ive never ventured across them before in any of the several LFS' i've been to. i always thought ruby barbs were a little closer to tigers than checkered in temperament though? are they as typically hardy and active as the majority of barbs?
 
thanks again! so nice not having to rely on under-qualified store staff for advice any more

 

[Shifty1303]

so good news! I managed to get my LFS to track down and order in some black ruby barbs for me   got 10 of them on the way which the store is gonna monitor for me in an independently filtered holding tank for a fortnight while i finish cycling (finally some decent service). 
 
been reading up on them though and see they are nice and peaceful etc but i was wondering why quite a few sites say they are moderately difficult to keep? never though any barbs but tigers (and now pentazona) were anything but easy to keep??
 
thanks again byron for the suggestion!

 

[Byron]

I have had this barb (Black Ruby) for close to four years now.  I lost most of the original eight to an internal protozoan, but two are still with me, and I have another 11 that were added this past summer.  Yesterday I spotted a fry down in the moss and plants.  I've had this barb in with Congo Tetra from the first, and there has never been even a hint of fin nipping, and Congos are a decent temptation.  I frequently recommend this species for community tanks of semi-active fish.  They do swim around a lot, and such activity would be annoying to sedate fish, but in with similar species they are near-ideal for barbs.  They also eat algae, though only picking at it, but I always see some of them grazing my plant leaves.
 
Byron.

 

[Lateral Line]

The fish, (black ruby), is quite plain when immature, but colours up as it matures. Don't be too quick to judge young fish. Unfortunately, the fish is also quite easy to breed, and from farms where numbers are more important than quality, a lot of low quality inbred fish reach the market, (the same is true of many species today unfortunately). It is some years, (decades), since I have seen good quality specimens in a shop.

 

[Shifty1303]

yeh thats another lesson ive learned recently. sometimes the plainest looking fish in the shop can develop into absolute beauties. no fish is this more true of in my local shops than the rainbowfish; particularly the red and bosemans rainbows. gonna get myself a shoal of dwarf neone after coming to this realisation. isnt this inbreeding what led to guppies becoming really disease prone? i love guppies for their energy and colour but my word do they die easily