Rhomboocellatus Barb | Desmopuntius rhomboocellatus

Snakeskin Barb (Puntius rhomboocellatus) is a beautiful fish that is rarely found. Fish in this barb family, are scattered in the interior of Kalimantan, Indonesia, especially in rivers such as the Kapuas, Kepayang, Barito and Kahajan rivers. The inhabited habitat is usually in the form of swamps connected to small rivers which are commonly found in forest areas. The state of the water is cloudy blackish brown due to decay of organic material accompanied by the release of humic acid and other chemicals. The mineral content of the water in the fish’s natural habitat is almost non-existent with a minimum pH of 3-4. In addition, the rain forest will cover most of the river surface and only a small part of the river surface will receive sunlight

The term for the name rhomboocellatus is derived from the pattern on the body of this fish. Rhombo means parallelogram while ocellatus means eye, this indicates that the pattern in fish resembles an eye because of the different color patterns. Snakeskin barb has a reddish-orange body color with a pattern resembling an eye, black on the outside and reddish on the inside. All fish fins including the transparent tail which is camouflaged in red. The size of this fish is small with a body length of about 88 mm or 3.5 inches.

Young snakeskin barbs are not as pretty as adults, they are silvery in color with a slightly red back and a pale pattern. In the aquarium, snakeskin barb is a peacefull fish and suitable when mixed in one tank with other fish such as Danio, Puntius, Rasbora, loach and gourami. In addition, Snakeskin barb is a group of fish, and in the aquarium it is recommended to be kept in an amount of 8-10 tails. These fish are omnivores, in nature they eat worms, crustaceans, some plant material and other organic debris. In the aquarium, they can accept any food because they are not picky eaters. To obtain the best conditions and good color, can be given live or frozen foods such as bloodworm, artemia and daphnia.

The maintenance process can be carried out in a tank with a size of 45cm x 37.5cm x 30cm for the convenience of the fish. Tank settings can be made to resemble the natural habitat such as light that is not too bright, root accessories, stems or leaves of plants, and dark colored substrates. Some Asian aquatic plants that can survive these conditions can also be added such as Microsorum pteropus (Java fern), Taxiphyllum barbieri (Java moss) and Cryptocorynes. Make sure that the filter turbulence is not too bumpy. The temperature of the tank water can be maintained at 23-280C with near-neutral acidity at pH 5-7. This fish includes fish that are very active but not aggressive and require very good quality water.

Adult male snakeskin barbs tend to be smaller than females, but also appear slimmer and more strikingly colored than females. For breeding, prepare a tank with a size of 30cm x 20cm x 20cm. Lighting conditions should be dim and good leafy plants such as Java moss available as a place for fish to lay eggs. At the bottom of the tank there is a small mesh whose mesh size is large enough to catch fish eggs that fall and a mesh small enough for the brood to reach them. The pH of the tank water must be slightly acidic to neutral with the temperature set slightly above the temperature of the maintenance tank. For best results, choose a well-colored male and a female that looks full of eggs, and separate them into the breeding tank in the evening. They will lay eggs after the morning with the eggs collected on the plant. The broodstock must be removed immediately after laying the eggs because the broodstock will eat the fry. The eggs will hatch after 24-36 hours with the new fry will be able to swim on day 3 or 4. The newly hatched chicks are given small food such as infusoria, until they are able to accept food such as daphnia or Arthemia nauplii. Changes of water in small amounts of about 10-20% should be done frequently until the fry are 3-4 months old. until they are able to accept foods such as daphnia or Arthemia nauplii. Changes of water in small amounts of about 10-20% should be done frequently until the fry are 3-4 months old. until they are able to accept foods such as daphnia or Arthemia nauplii. Changes of water in small amounts of about 10-20% should be done frequently until the fry are 3-4 months old.

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