Orange-fin Barb

About

Found across a broad sweep of sub-Saharan Africa, this medium-sized barb, Barbus eutaenia, turns up in the clear, fast-flowing headwater streams of Zimbabwe's eastern highlands, the Transvaal escarpment, and major river systems including the Zambezi, Okavango, Cunene, and Cuanza. In the wild it gravitates toward rocky, well-oxygenated water and makes seasonal forays onto floodplains during the rains, though it typically sticks to smaller tributaries the rest of the year. Its diet in nature centers on insects, so a varied menu of high-protein foods will keep it in good condition in the aquarium. Temperamentally it's a relaxed, sociable fish that poses no real threat to similarly sized tankmates, making it a decent candidate for a community setup built around African species or other peaceful mid-sized fish. That said, its preference for clean, flowing water and its dietary needs push it into intermediate territory. This isn't a fish you want to drop into a neglected or poorly filtered tank. A group suits it better than keeping it solo, and a setup with some current, open swimming space, and a few rocky features will let it behave naturally. With attentive care it can live seven or eight years.