Snyder's Barb

About

A small schooling barb from Taiwan, Puntius snyderi is one of those species that slips under the radar in the hobby despite being a genuinely good community fish. It bears a close resemblance to the wild form of the golden barb, sharing the same greenish body with scattered dark markings along the flanks. A far cry from the bright yellow ornamental strains most hobbyists know. Telling the two apart takes a careful eye: this species has only faint, barely-there barbels (and some individuals have none at all), carries four to five main dark vertical body marks rather than the seven to nine seen on its near-twin, and has a slightly deeper body profile. Its taxonomic situation is also a bit unsettled, sitting in the genus Puntius as an incertae sedis species pending a broader review of Asian cyprinids. In the aquarium it's thoroughly peaceful and well-suited to a beginner keeping a community of similarly calm, comparably sized fish. A group of eight to ten individuals is the way to go. Males will posture and display their best colors when jostling for rank or female attention, which makes for genuinely interesting watching. Breeding has not been documented in captivity so far.