Above: The picture above shows a premium quality young male Red Panda Barb, swimming in one of our aquariums, when one of us took this picture.

This is a very hardy fish.

Comments: This is a Premium Pet Fish, and we never see Premium Red Panda Barbs like these in any of the live fish stores or the online stores that we visit.

Premium Pet Fish are more energetic, hardier, and have brighter colors with a beautiful metallic sheen.

Click here to learn more about Premium Pet Fish.

Origin: Their ancestors originally lived in Southern India, but they are now raised on fish farms and live in aquariums throughout most of the world.

Maximum Size: In aquariums Red Panda Barbs can grow to be about 3" long, including their tails. Sometimes very old Black Ruby Barbs are even bigger.

Behaviors: Most Red Panda Barbs are active swimmers and are rarely aggressive.

Compatibility: Some recommended tank mates include other smaller Barbs, Rainbowfish, Danios, small Gouramis, and many other small to medium size aquarium fish.

Click here to read more about compatible groups of pet fish.

Temperature: Red Panda Barbs can live pretty well from about 65 to 80 degrees F., but they're probably most comfortable at about 74 degrees F.

Click here to learn about aquarium temperature, aquarium thermometers, and aquarium heaters.

Feeding: Premium Fish Food Flakes when small and small Premium Pellet Food when larger.

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Water Conditions: Red Panda Barbs seem to be tolerant of a wide range of water conditions. Probably a pH of about 7 with moderate hardness is best.

Most water in the US has a higher pH and is harder but seems to be OK, so it's probably best NOT to adjust the pH or the hardness of the water.

Here in our facilities the water is hard and the pH is usually about 7.8. We ship them in this water.

Click here for a lot more information about aquarium water conditions.

Aquarium Size: It is probably best to house these fish in at least a 30-gallon aquarium, but bigger is better.

Keep at most one Red Panda Barb per gallon, when they're small. Larger Red Panda Barbs need about 2 to 3-gallons per Red Panda Barb.

Decor: Red Panda Barbs do not need gravel, and a layer of gravel more than 1/4" thick will usually fill with bits of uneaten food that will contaminate the water.

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Live Plants are beautiful and improve the water quality.

Aquarium Filter: Bio-Wheel Filters are highly recommended.

A Penguin 200B Filter in an aquarium with 20 to 30-gallons of water is OK.

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The addition of Lava Rocks will keep nitrates in the ideal range.

Click here to learn more about using Lava Rocks in aquariums.

Life Span: Red Panda Barbs can live for several years with good water and good food.

Gender: Male Red Panda Barbs become much redder as they mature, and females get plumper as they fill with eggs.

Breeding: Red Panda Barbs scatter a large number of eggs on plants or special breeding mops made of nylon yarn.

Popularity: Red Panda Barbs are rather new aquarium and still rather rare. If you patiently raise them up, you'll be amazed by their colors.

Names: The scientific name of Red Panda Barbs is Puntius fasciatus.

Variations: We've seen no variations, but this species (or a group of closely related species) occur across a very wide area, so we would expect variations in color and pattern.

We hope you've enjoyed reading these comments.

DrT - 09/17/2015