Puntius padamya - Odessa Barb

Cyprinidae

To date the species is known only from northern Myanmar (Burma). The type specimens were collected from a man-made pond fed by a small stream in a village called Toe Gyi which lies in the administrative division of Mandalay. It has also been recorded from lower stretches of the river Chindwin (a tributary of the Ayeyarwady) and a "small pond" 500m away from the river itself.

Ralf Britz (one of the co-authors of the paper describing the species) told us that the type specimens were collected at an altitude of around 3000m above sea level. The waters were generally clear, lacking in aquatic plants and flowed over limestone resulting in a pH value of around 11.0! Substrates in the area were of gravel or mud.

Around 2.75"/7cm.

Very active and deserves a tank measuring at least 36" x 12" x 12"/90cm x 30cm x 30cm/85 litres.

It is quite undemanding provided the tank is well-maintained although it can appear a little washed out in very sparsely decorated set-ups. A combination of fairly dim lighting and a dark substrate will encourage it to show its best colours. It can look quite superb in a heavily planted set-up decorated with pieces of bogwood, twisted roots and a layer of surface vegetation to dim the lighting. Some softer-leaved plants may be nibbled on though so try to select tougher varieties.

68 - 78°F/20 - 26°C

This species is quite adaptable and there is no need to attempt to reproduce the somewhat extreme conditions of its natural waters, not least because the majority of specimens encountered are likely to have been captive bred. A pH value within the range 6.0 - 8.0 should be fine.

5 - 20°H

Like many barbs it's probably a generalised omnivore in nature feeding on diatoms, algae, small invertebrates, detritus and the like. It is certainly easily-fed in the aquarium and will greedily accept just about anything offered. For the best condition and colours offer regular meals of small live and frozen foods such as bloodworm, Daphnia and Artemia along with good quality dried flakes and granules.

Puntius padamya generally lacks the nasty fin-nipping behaviour associated with some of its relatives and can be mixed with most peaceful fish too large to be considered food. It makes an ideal addition to a peaceful community of Southeast Asian/Indian species perhaps alongside other similarly-sized Puntius, rasboras, botiine loaches and gouramis of the genus Trichogaster. A community based around fish from Myanmar could also make for an interesting project.

It's a schooling species by nature, and really should be kept in a group of at least 8-10 specimens. Maintaining it in decent numbers will not only make the fish less skittish, but will result in a more effective, natural looking display. Males will also develop better colours in the presence of conspecific rivals.

The male is by far the more colourful fish, possessing a thick band of bright red/orange colouration on the flanks and exhibiting more well-defined markings in the fins. In sexually-mature specimens the female is usually the thicker-bodied and has some orange pigmentation in the ventral fins. Any red/orange colour no the body is restricted to the caudal peduncle area.

Quite easily bred, although you'll need to set up a separate tank in which to do so if you want to raise any numbers of fry. Something around 18" x 12" x 12"/45cm x 30cm x30cm in size is usually recommended. This should be very dimly lit and contain clumps of fine-leaved plants such as Java moss or spawning mops to give the fish somewhere to deposit their eggs. Alternatively, you could cover the base of the tank with some kind of mesh. This should be of a large enough grade so that the eggs can fall through it, but small enough so that the adults cannot reach them. The water should be around neutral pH, gH <8, with a slightly raised temperature of 75 - 80°F. A small air-powered sponge filter bubbling away very gently is all that is needed in terms of filtration.

It can be spawned in a group, with half a dozen specimens of each sex being a good number. Condition these with plenty of small live foods and spawning should not present too many problems. Depending on your set-up, simply check the spawning medium or tank base each morning for eggs. Do be aware that the chances of getting a large batch of eggs is vastly reduced using this method as barbs are avid egg-eaters.

Alternatively try spawning it in pairs. Under this technique, the fish are conditioned in male and female groups in separate tanks. When the females are noticeably full of eggs and the males are displaying their best colours, select the fattest-looking female and best coloured male and transfer them to the spawning tank in the evening. They should spawn the following morning. Be sure to provide plenty of cover for the female as the male may be quite aggressive in his pursuit of her. In some cases she may even require a period of rehabilitation in a tank that does not contain any males.

In either situation, the adults will eat the eggs given the chance and should be removed as soon as they are noticed. They will hatch in 24 - 48 hours, with the fry becoming free swimming 24 hours or so later. These should be fed on an infusoria-type food for the first few days, until they are large enough to accept microworm or Artemia nauplii.

This species has been in the aquatic trade since the early 1970s but was only described to science in 2008. The main reason for this hiatus is that the exact origin of the fish remained shrouded in mystery for many years. It first appeared in Ukraine (the common name "Odessa" being derived from the port city of that name) and when it arrived in western Europe was widely touted as a hybrid in the aquatic press. Several species were mentioned as possible "parents" including P. conchonius , P. ticto  and P. cumingii . Others considered it a subspecies of P. ticto  or P. conchonius  whilst in later years it was even suggested the fish were artificially dyed.

These myths were upheld until wild populations of Puntius padamya were discovered by Ralf Britz in early 2003. Wild-caught specimens subsequently began to appear in the trade and it became clear that the Odessa barb was a naturally-occuring fish. Even this development failed to bring an end to the confusion as the species was only formally described in October 2008. When Kullander and Fang described Puntius didi  from Myanmar in 2005 there followed some speculation because the image of the P. didi  holotype in the description paper appeared to closely resemble the Odessa barb; this theory being disproven once images of live P. didi  became available as amongst subtler differences males lack the red body stripe seen in those of Puntius padamya.

One interesting fact regarding the wild vs. "aquarium strain" variants of Puntius padamya is that the farm-produced fish seem to hold their colouration better when stressed. Although this has yet to be verified we suspect that the original captive population of the species has been line-bred for colour over the years resulting in this trait. In all other aspects both "forms" of the species appear to be identical and it must surely rank among the most attractive small barbs available in the hobby.

This species is included in the Puntius conchonius  'group' of closely-related species as defined by Taki (1978). Members are characterised by "small adult size, fused and broad interorbital 3 + 4, well-developed lateral folds on snout, absence of rostral barbels, minute or absent maxillary barbels, osseous and serrated last unbranched dorsal fin ray, often abbreviated lateral line, a color pattern including a blotch anteriorly on the side (absent in P. conchonius  and a blotch on the caudal peduncle, and a broad pharyngeal bone characterized by pointed dorsal tip, spaced moderate-sized teeth and absence of dorsal angle" (Kullander and Fang, 2005). Current members of the group are P. conchonius , P. bandula, P. cumingii , P. didi , P. erythromycter, P. gelius , P. macrogramma, P. manipurensis, P. meingangbii, P. nankyweensis, P. narayani , P. nigrofasciatus , Puntius padamya, P. phutunio , P. punctatus, P. setnai, P. shalynius, P. stoliczkanus , P. thelys, P. tiantian, P. ticto  and P. yuensis.

The genus Puntius is currently viewed as something of a catch-all for well over 100 species of small cyprinid. Most experts agree that a full revision is required, with the likely outcome that many species will be placed into new or different genera. When describing the genus in 1822, Hamilton identified the defining characteristics as: "absence or presence of maxillary only or rostral and maxillary barbels; dorsal fin with last simple ray serrate or entire, branched rays usually 8; anal fin with last simple ray entire, branched rays usually 5; lateral line complete or incomplete, lateral-line scales 17-36 in row; cephalic cutaneous papillae minute or absent; pharyngeal teeth in 3 rows, usually 2,3,5/5,3,2; colour pattern extremely variable." All the species currently in the genus are native to Southeast Asia, India and Sri Lanka.

The other main source of confusion with Puntius is that some authors do not recognise all the member species as such, rather following Walter Rainboth (1996) and preferring to place some into the alternative genus Systomus. Rainboth proposed that Systomus should be reinstated (it was first erected in the 19th century) as a valid genus on account of the fact that in its current state Puntius would seem to constitute a polyphyletic grouping i.e. not all of its members appear to have descended from the same common ancestor. The defining characteristics of a Systomus species are (according to Rainboth) a serrated (vs. smooth in Puntius) dorsal spine, the presence of 2 or 4 barbels (vs. always 2) and less than 12 gill rakers (vs. 12-20). SF tentatively lists all species as Puntius at present.

Literature cited

1. Kullander, S.O. and R. Britz. - Electronic J. Ichthyol. (2):56-66. 2008
   Puntius padamya, a new species of Cyprinid fish from Myanmar (Teleostei: Cyprinidae).
2. www.petfrd.com