Rosy Barb's actual adult length.?

Question

On most fish profile sites it states that Rosy Barbs grow to 6 inches in the wild, but usually do not exceed 2-4 inches in captivity. I've had 6 for a while (at least 6 months) and they seem to have stopped at 1 3/4 inches. I bought them at about 1 1/2 inches. The tank is 30 gallons and not overstocked so they are not stunted.

My question is, does anyone else have good experience with rosy barbs and their final captivity length? I'm trying to judge how many inches/gallon I have left and it is proving difficult.

Answer 1

I'd give them a maximum length of 5.5 inches, althoug I've rarely seen them over 4.5.

It seems yours aren't growing well for some reason. This could be related to quality of their food (give them a variety, including some frozen foods (bloodworms, daphnia), live mosquito larvae, baby brine shrimp, and some veggies (slices of cucumber, pieces of romaine lettuce, or smashed cooked green peas if they'll eat them). Also, it could be related to your tank maintenance and water changes or water temperature. Larger or more frequent water changes may encourage them to grow faster, as will temperatures in the mid-70s.

Don't go by inches per gallon - that's outdated, and never was really a good way to estimate the number of fish to put in a tank. Ten one inch neons don't produce the same wastes or oxygen demand as one 10 inch oscar or goldfish. It also doesn't take into account the shape of the tank (low and wide will have a greater amount of area for the exchange of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide than a tall, narrow tank), the filtration (much better equipment is available now than the old undergravel filters with airstones), feeding and maintenance (which could go either way as far as how many fish you could stock), the activity level of the fish (sedentary fish could be stocked more heavily than highly active ones), or the personality of the fish (schooling types that prefer company could be stocked more heavily than territorial/aggressive fish that might not allow any tankmates.

Answer 2

i put some six one-inch rosy barbs into a big plastic vat about a year ago and last sunday i cleaned out the tank. there were four around 2 3/4 " long and around twenty-plus sized from 1/2" to 2". my plastic vat contains something like 150 gallons. the diet was pretty much flakes all the way. tetra min staple food for one year. i just wanted them to control mosquitos, never figured there would be any surviving young

if you include the tail, two of my original fish are around four-inches long since they're the long-finned type

Answer 3

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