Fishes / Habitat
The Denison barb, also widely sold as the roseline shark, is a torpedo-shaped fish with a bold red-and-black stripe running from nose to tail and yellow-black banding on the fork of the tail. It is en
The Denison barb, also widely sold as the roseline shark, is a torpedo-shaped fish with a bold red-and-black stripe running from nose to tail and yellow-black banding on the fork of the tail. It is endemic to a handful of fast-flowing hill streams in the Western Ghats of Kerala and Karnataka, and reaches around twelve to fifteen centimetres.
This is a species genuinely worth knowing the full story of before buying. Its striking looks made it enormously popular from the 1990s onward, and by 2007 it accounted for around sixty per cent of all live ornamental fish exported from India. That same popularity, combined with habitat loss from dams and pollution, has pushed wild populations into a genuine crisis, and the species is now listed as Endangered by the IUCN.
Given its size and very active swimming style, a group of six or more needs a tank of at least a hundred and fifty litres with strong water flow and high oxygen levels, reflecting its home in fast hill streams. It does best on the cooler side of the tropical range and does not thrive in warm, still water.
A secure lid is essential, since Denison barbs are strong jumpers, and the tank should offer plenty of open swimming length rather than dense obstruction.
An omnivorous diet of good-quality flakes or pellets, supplemented with live or frozen food and some vegetable matter, suits it well. It is a shoaling fish and settles poorly, sometimes becoming skittish or stressed, if not kept in a proper group of six or more.
The Kerala government has introduced fishing restrictions to protect wild stock, and most fish reaching the trade today, including much of what is sold in India, is commercially bred rather than wild caught. Buying only captive-bred stock, and asking a shop directly where its fish come from, is a genuinely meaningful choice with this particular species.
Article content © S Vejay Anand. All rights reserved.
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