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The pentazona barb (Puntius pentazona), or fiveband barb is a tropical fish belonging to the Barb genus of the minnow family. It is a native of Southeast Asia, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. They are also referred to as Barbus pentazona.
The fish superficially resembles the tiger barb, except that there are five black vertical bands on an orange or gold body instead of four bands on the tiger barb. The fish will grow to a maximum length of 2 in (5 cm).
The fish lives natively in calm tropical waters in the lowlands in water with a 5–6 pH, a water hardness of 5–12.0 dGH, and a temperature range of 74–84 °F (23–29 °C).
The fish has commercial importance in the aquarium hobby and is frequently inaccurately referrered to as a tiger barb (Puntius tetrazona).
Pentazona barbs are egg-scatterers that spawn among a course gravel bed in open water. Once spawning is finished, they will usually eat any of the approximately 200 eggs that they find. It is usually necessary to separate the fish from the eggs after spawning in order to prevent the eggs from being eaten. The eggs will hatch in approximately 1 day.
In the aquarium
The pentazona barb is a harmless, active schooling fish that is usually kept in groups of 5 or more. They prefer a well planted environment with rocks and driftwood but still need plenty of space to school.
See also
References
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