The ticto barb or twospot barb (''Pethia ticto'') is a species of subtropical

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, especially the difference in levels of ...

belonging to the family Cyprinidae. It is a native of the upper

Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

, Salwen, Irrawaddy, Meklong and upper Charo Phraya basins in the countries of

Nepal Nepal (; ne, :ne:नेपाल, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in S ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, and Sri Lanka. It has frequently been confused with the

Odessa barb The Odessa barb (''Pethia padamya'') is a species of cyprinid fish known from Central Myanmar, where it is known to occur in an artificial pond above the Anisakan Falls and also from the lower Chindwin River. For many years it has been known to t ...

in the aquarium trade, but in that species the male is reddish-orange (lacking in ''P. ticto'').Kullander, S. O.; and R. Britz (2008). ''Puntius padamya, a new species of Cyprinid fish from Myanmar (Teleostei: Cyprinidae).'' Electronic Journal of Ichthyology, Bulletin of the European Ichthyology Society 2: 56-66. The ticto barb is silver and gold with two black spots; one just before the pectoral fin and one near the back tail. It grows to a maximum length of . It is natively found in still, shallow, marginal waters of

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s and

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...

s, usually with muddy bottoms. It browses close to the substrate in shallow water. Ticto barbs natively live in a subtropical environment and prefer water with a 6.0—7.0 pH, a water hardness of up to 10 dGH, and a temperature range of . Their diet consists of small

crustacean Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s and

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

. The ticto barb is one of many barbs undergoing revisions in their taxonomic classification. It is frequently confused with its sympatric relative '' P. stoliczkana''.

In the aquarium

The ticto barb is an active schooling fish, which is usually kept in groups. When in large enough groups, they will not bother any other species of fish. They prefer a well planted environment that is similar to the still and shallow waters with mud bottoms of their native

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

. Ticto barbs are egg-layers that spawn among a coarse gravel bed. During

spawning Spawn is the eggs and sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, and the act of both sexes is called spawning. Most aquatic animals, except for aquat ...

, they will lay approximately 150 eggs, laying around 20 at a time. Once spawning is finished, they will usually eat any of the 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 and will be free-swimming a day later.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q233025 Pethia Barbs (fish) Fish of Southeast Asia Fish of Sri Lanka Fish described in 1822

In the aquarium

See also

References