This barb is too small for my barb tank... but I get excited every time I see this picture...

Magnum Man · Jan 14, 2025

Checkered Barb

Oliotius oligolepis (Checkered Barb)

The checkered barb, Oliotius oligolepis, is a small cyprinid apparently endemic to western central Sumatra, Indonesia. Also traded as 'checker barb', 'checkerboard barb' or 'island barb', it is farmed commercially in enormous numbers and wild examples are rarely, if ever, available. Kottelat...

www.seriouslyfish.com

Centerfold picture...

GaryE · Jan 14, 2025

You're making me want to go back into barbs. No Gary, no!

Innesfan · Jan 14, 2025

Checkered Barbs are a wonderful species and an old favorite. They are being mass produced in SE Asia and some strains aren't as brilliantly colored as others. I'd love to get my hands on some wild stock. When they are settled in the males take on a dusky hue and the flecks of violet iridescence on their scales make for a gorgeous contrast.

fishorama · Jan 14, 2025

They've always been on my short list. Never available when I had a suitable tank for them, but I haven't given up!

Innesfan · Jan 14, 2025

fishorama said:
They've always been on my short list. Never available when I had a suitable tank for them, but I haven't given up!

My local Petco, of all places, had a tank full of them today when I stopped by for dog supplies. And Wetspot has them on their list now, $2.99.

Interesting taxonomy too. When they blew up Puntius and created all the new genera, Pethia, Puntigrus, Dawkinsia etc. containing numerous former Puntius species each, the Checkered Barb became the only species in the new genera Oliotius, a monotypic genus. So far, anyway. There seems to be a new Pethia every few months so who knows.