This species is sometimes traded for aquaria but its name also appears to have been widely misapplied to other fishes.

It can be identified via the following combination of characters: presence of 8-10 quite regular dark bars…

This species is traded for aquaria under various names including ‘butterfly barb’, ‘mackerel barb’, ‘green-barred danio’, and ‘royal opsarius’.

It can be told apart from other memb…

Inhabits well-oxygenated, low-to-medium gradient, slow to moderate-flowing rivers and streams with substrates of gravel, cobbles, larger boulders and exposed bedrock. At the habitat in our image pH was 7.5, temperature 26°C and cond…

B. aurotaeniatus is uncommon in the aquarium trade. Following Kottelat (1998) it has a single pair of maxillary barbels, a complete lateral line and colour pattern usually comprising four small, vertically-orientated black markings on the flanks (located above anterior lateral line origin, below dorsal-fin origin, below posterior end of dorsal-fin base and on caudal peduncle, respectively) and one on the dorsal surface, below dorsal-fin origin.

The genus Barbonymus was erected by Kottelat in 1999 and contains former members of Barbodes from southeast Asia. The type species is B. schwanenfeldii and currently there exist only three other representatives; B. altus, B. collingwoodii and B. gonionotus.

The latter two are rare in the hobby although an SF member has kept B. gonionotus in the past so they are worth looking out for if you harbour an…

This species is among the smaller members of the family. It can be differentiated from all other Akysis species by the following combination of characters: caudal peduncle length 16.1-19.8% of standard length (SL); caudal peduncle depth 6.5-9.3% SL; length of adipose-fin base 25.6-29.5% SL; interorbital distance 42.0-46.0% of head length (HL), eye diameter 13.0-20.0% HL; length of nasal barbel 44.0-66.0% HL; lateral margins of the head appear straight when viewed from above; possession of 0-5 se…

Fish sold under the name S. zonata are sporadically available in the aquarium trade but the majority appear to be the congener S. octozona.

The genus currently contains just three members all of which are known only from the Mekong basin. S. octozona is the type species and separ…

This species does not appear to be in the aquarium hobby at time of writing though it may have been in the past, when exports of wild Epalzeorhynchos spp. still took place.

Most members of the genus were formerly regarded as Labeo spp. and are thus referred to as such in older literature. According to Rainboth (1996) they’re characterised by absence of a dorsal spine, possession of 10-13 branched dorsal fin rays, a thin membrane…

There currently exist a dozen described Esomus spp. alhough few are seen in the aquarium trade and none are especially popular. Most are commonplace in their native countries and also quite plainly-patterned so generally overlooked by collectors. Their most common use in some areas is actually as a feeder fish in the aquaculture of larger species. They’re characterised by greatly-enlarged pectoral fins and two pairs of barbels, of which the maxillary pair are extremely long and usually reach the pectoral fins.

This species is also known by the vernacular ‘jungle perch’ or ‘sidebar barb’ and should not be considered an aquarium subject in all but the most extreme circumstances since it can grow to over 2 feet in length, weigh in excess of 5 kg and is a powerful, pelagic predator. It’s also a popular sport fish with a reputation for striking hard.