In the aquarium trade this species may also be seen on sale as ‘skinhead barb’. As with others in the genus little has been written regarding its captive care but it makes a peaceful and unusual addition to larger aquaria. The best way of obtaining it may be to keep an eye on shipments of wild fishes from Indochina and the Greater Sunda Islands as it’s rarely imported in large numbers and most often arrives as bycatch.

Endemic to the Ganges and Brahmaputra river basins and thus occurs in northern India, Nepal and Bangladesh. Type locality is ‘the Yamuna River, and northern rivers of Behar and Bengal’.

The distribution of the genus as a whole is interesting because these fish occupy the area that geographically separates Indian and Southeast Asia barbs and it has been theorised that they may represent an evolutionary ‘link’ species…

While separating some of the fish that may be found on sale as ‘C. siamensis’ is a tricky task, C. nigriloba is quite simple to identify. The dark lateral body stripe uniquely breaks up into a series of blotches when the fish are sparring, stressed or sleeping and the lower caudal fin lobe contains dark pigmentation suffused with red. The latter feature has given rise to the trade name of ‘penguin flying fox’.

While some laterally-striped members of the genus look very similar to one another the combination of silvery body, dark-edged scales and dark caudal peduncle blotch set C. reticulatus uniquely apart.

The names Crossocheilus tchangi, Epalzeorhynchos coatesi and E. stigmaeus are all now considered synonyms of the species but were erected because the fish vary, most often in minor aspects of patt…

There are currently three species which look almost identical and are most easily separated by collection details since their ranges do not overlap in nature; C. chagunio is endemic to the Ganges and Brahmaputra drainages and C. nicholsi to the Ayeyarwady/Irrawaddy.

This species only became available in the aquarium hobby during the early 21st century but has already achieved a measure of popularity since it’s attractive, easy to maintain and usually quite cheaply-priced.

You may see it on sale under various trade names including ‘Vietnamese minnow’, ‘cardinal minnow’, ‘royal white cloud’, ‘dwarf cardinal’ and others.

We’ve obtained images of what is said to be a naturally-occurring form with extremely elong…

This species is among a handful of near-identical congeners that are traded as ‘Siamese algae-eater’ (often abbreviated to ‘SAE’), ‘Siamese flying fox’ and ‘Crossocheilus siamensis’.

The latter name is not valid, however, and is a synonym of Epalzeorhynchos siamensis which is itself a synonym of Crossocheilus oblongus, a species described from Java. C. oblongus is currently accepted to…

C. latius isn't often available in the trade but makes an excellent alternative to more commonly-offered members of the genus should you be lucky enough to find some. Shipments of similar-looking Indian Garra species such as G. mullya or G. gotyla sometimes contain the odd specimen. It exhibits morphological differences when compared with other members of the genus and may be assigned to a separate taxon at some point in the future.

Predominantly a riverine fish favouring clear, well-oxygenated, running water with substrates of sand or gravel and often present in rock and boulder-filled headwater streams.

In the Mun River, close to the Pak Mun dam, Thailand, sympatric species included Hampala dispar, Cyclocheilichthys apogon, Osteochilus hasseltii,…

This species is poorly-known in the aquarium hobby and may have never been maintained outside its native countries.

It can be distinguished from congeners by the following combination of characters: 26-27 lateral line scales; two roundish, dark blotches on each flank, one beneath dorsal-fin origin and above the lateral line, the other on the caudal peduncle and passing thro…