Meta: Sometimes, choosing a fish is not as easy as it looks. We do want the good one, right? Read this article to learn how to choose a good Cherry Barb Fish.
To choose a good Cherry Barb fish is quite easy. Few pointers can tell you which one is the good one. Here are two tips about it: take a look at their body color and identify potential diseases.
Body Color
The first way to choose a good cherry barb fish is by looking at their body color. One tip is that the brighter they are, the higher the quality. For male Cherry Barbs, look for bright red cherry-colored ones.
As for the female ones, they have a more whitish color than the males. However, whitish does not mean pale. If they are actively swimming in schools, it may be a good one.
Look Out for Sick Ones
If you’re still confused, you might as well look out for sick ones. Learning about diseases can help you to keep your fish safe and avoid you from buying one. Even though they are hardy types of fish, that does not mean they cannot get sick. Have a look at these diseases:
1. Dropsy
This disease can be seen instantly as the Cherry Barb swims with a bloated stomach. The condition is known as Dropsy, and it made the fish swim near to the bottom level. Some cases involve symptoms like anorexia and lethargy. Other cases can be caused by microorganisms that can specifically infest their internal organs.
Another common cause of Dropsy is overfeeding. There is a cure for this: salt baths and medications. Make a feeding schedule to avoid this fish disease.
2. Fin Rot
Fin rot is a disease that can infect Cherry Barbs, caused by bacterial infection. You can easily spot this disease because your fish’s fin is rotting and losing its color (especially at the fin’s edges). Usually, the cause of this disease is poor water management or putting an infected fish alongside the healthy ones.
To avoid bacterial contamination to your aquarium, it is advised that a new fish must undergo quarantine in a separate tank for a few days before joining the others. If you have any signs of fin rot, you can cure it with aquarium salts. It’s better than having the whole aquarium infected.
3. Freshwater Ich
This is the most commonly encountered disease in aquariums. That means the freshwater ich can infect not only your Cherry Barb but also other species of fish. The cause is bacteria, and it infects their bodies, fins, and gills.
Early symptoms that can be seen in Cherry Barbs specifically are that they separate themselves from their school. This shows a drastic behavioral change when Cherry Barbs usually prefer to swim around in schools. Other symptoms are rapid breathing and appetite loss. To cure this disease, you need to quarantine the fish with medications and aquarium salt, then increase the water temperature by about 1 to 2 degrees per day (but not over 27,5 degrees Celsius).
Those are the diseases that you need to look out for. Apart from appearances, to choose a good cherry barb fish, one must know which one is healthy and not. If you find a sick fish in a market, it is advisable to not buy from that particular tank and report it to the shop owner.
https://kidadl.com/animal-facts/cherry-barb-facts
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https://www.aquariumsource.com/cherry-barb/
https://www.fishkeepingworld.com/cherry-barb/
https://www.thesprucepets.com/cherry-barb-fish-species-profile-5187999