Details
Puntigrus tetrazona
The tiger barb is a small Southeast Asian cyprinid marked with bold black bars. It moves actively in loose groups through forest freshwater.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It lives in forest streams, swamps, and slow freshwater of the Indomalayan region. Aquatic plants and submerged branches provide cover.
Length 5-7 cm; weight 3 g-8 g. A yellowish body carries several heavy black bars, and the fins often show red. The compressed body turns neatly within a group.
Diurnal and loosely schooling, it ranges through midwater. Chasing within the group helps maintain spacing and rank.
An omnivore, it eats small invertebrates, algae, and plant fragments. It nips at food in the water column and near the bottom.
Adults scatter small eggs among plants. There is no parental care, and fry grow best in shallow cover.
It is listed as Least Concern, though local populations can still be affected by habitat change, collection, or pollution.
