# Odessa barbs :)



## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

So continuing on with building up my temperate water aquarium (currently running at 23C), I settled on a small shoal of Odessa barbs to accompany my rainbow shiners, white cloud mountain minnows and gold barbs. I ended up deciding against pretty much any species of danio after my local fish store owner told me '_actually, people don't realise how big danios can get - 4 inches for some species!_'

I don't think I have ever seen a danio get that big - which makes me think that like poor goldfish they never get put in a tank large enough to achieve it.

Anyway, odessa barbs won - depending on the source of the info they reach somewhere between 4-8cm, so up to the size of the gold barbs I already have.

I never even thought of these fish until searching for interesting cool water fish. OMG they are stunning - looks like I have got 2 males and 4 females, and those males are really colouring up well, especially when displaying to each other.

Like the shiners they have a base colour a silvery-rose-red, but when they get all excited they seem to flash purple too.

I'm still working on a tank scape (i'm hopeless at it to be honest) but to try and give them something a bit more natural I got a load of kibomba and stuffed it into the holes of a fake log, so it looks like a kibomba-tree now! Also got a small piece of bogwood, which the shy gold barbs seem to like.

Any one here with Odessa barbs that can expand or correct the infomation I have for them?


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## NaomiM (Sep 22, 2012)

Photos please  

I don't know much about odessa barbs other than what I've read online, which seems to be pretty much what you've already said - temperate species, similar size to gold barbs, don't keep with long-finned fish as they can be a bit nippy.

Re the danios, I've never heard of them reaching 4 inches - I wonder what species the lfs owner was referring to? I decided against them myself for either my current or potential new tank though, due to the fact that they're so active and I think they would appreciate at least 3' swimming space


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## Fishyfins (Feb 28, 2009)

Odessa barbs are a lovely species, i used to have a load of them in my old tropical community. pretty placid as far as barbs go (though still keep a close eye on them), and they will usually eat any live plants in sight (though not always).

in regard to the danios, your usual danios (zebra, leopard et al)will not get much beyond 2", with 1.5 being far more common. there is indeed a species that grows to 4", but that is actually called the giant danio, and is quite recognisable. just stick to zebras and you'll be fine XD


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## Phoenix24 (Apr 6, 2013)

the LFS man said something about glowlight danios being quite small? I didn't think leopard or zebras grew big, but again maybe its about tank size - i doubt many fish do meet their maximum size.

He also said odessa barbs were relatively placid (like gold barbs) - they're certainly quite active and chase each other around. Thankfully no long-finned fish in the tank. The shiners are probably the bossiest fish in there.

I will try and get photos when the lighting is good - as with my shiners cameras just don't do them justice!


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