Golden Dwarf Barb (Barbus Gelius)

Belonging to the Barbus Gelius family, the Golden Dwarf Barb can be found in Assam, Bengal and India. Its size can reach 4cm (1.6 inches) and it should be kept in a 45cm (18 inches) long tank with the water temperature being between 20 and 22 degrees Celsius (68 to 72F). It enjoys eating dried food, insects and crustaceans.

If you’re a beginner, this barb is an excellent fish to own, especially if you don’t have room for a big aquarium.

The waters where the Barb lives are either flowing slowly or standing. This species is a very hardy one and can withstand low temperatures. It can easily be kept in an aquarium, since it’s not demanding at all. However, if you want them to breed, keep the temperature close to 22 degrees Celsius (72F).

You can tell which is the female because it doesn’t have barbells and she’s stouter. This fish is a bit transparent and it has a green/brown back with a white/silver underpart. The sides of this fish have a iridescent gold color with dark blotches. You can also see a red/gold stripe on their body and it has pale green eyes.

The Golden Dwarf Barbs can breed inside aquariums, and their eggs will drop on the plants, adhering to them. It will take one day for the eggs to begin hatching and a few days later the young will begin swimming.

While you don’t need to remove the adults, since they don’t eat their young or eggs, they don’t make good parents either.

Dwarf Gourami fish (Colisa Ialia)

The Dwarf Gourami fish belongs to the Colisa Ialia family and is native to Asia, and can be found in countries like Bangladesh and India. It can reach a length of 5cm (2 inches) and you should have a tank with a minimum length of 30cm (12 inches) if you plan to keep this fish. The aquarium should have a soft or medium water with a temperature between 20 and 26 degrees Celsius (68 to 79F). They prefer eating dried food, crustaceans, worms and insects.

A peaceful fish, the Dwarf Gourami can be kept in aquariums together with other types of fish. The best companions for them are the peaceful and smaller fish. They don’t live as well with fish that are more aggressive or bigger.

This is a great fish to own if you’re a beginner in this department. The aquarium where you keep this fish should have a couple of floating plants if possible. They should also have some rocks and roots in the aquarium, where they can stay. The aquarium should be large enough for the fish to swim in.

The place where you place the tank should have sufficient lighting, since the Dwarf Gourami enjoys when algae grows on glass.

This species enjoys swimming at the top of the tank, while breathing the air from the surface. That’s why you should insure that there is nothing at the top of the aquarium to block the fresh air from coming in. At least insure that there are ventilation holes, if there is something on top of the tank.

You can recognize the Dwarf Gourami male by its blue and green rows of dots, which are oblique and narrow. Their ventral fins are colored orange, while the breast and throat are a deep green-blue. The Dwarf Gourami female on the other hand is small, with dull colors and has more of a silver-grey look.

This species of fish can breed inside an aquarium. The first thing done by the male is nest building by using plants and courting the female. The nest will host the eggs next, where they will be fertilized by the male. The number of eggs released varies between 300 and 800.

Once this happens, you should remove the female from the tank, since the male is the one looking out for the eggs. The male should be removed as well, once the young will reach 2 or 3 days in age.

Bronze Corydoras (Corydoras Aeneus)

The fish called Bronze Corydoras belongs to the Corydoras Aeneus genus and it has a number of other names that people use for it: Bronze Catfish, Bronze Cory, Wavy Catfish, Albino Cory and Lightspot Corydoras.

The main areas where they can be found is Venezuela and Trinidad, in South America. They can get to a length of 7 centimeters (2.8 inches) and they will eat dried food, worms, plant matter, insects and crustaceans. They should be kept in a tank that has at least 45 centimeters (18 inches) in length, with the water temperature between 19 and 26 degrees Celsius.

Out of all the Corydoras species, this is the one that most people keep in their aquarium. This species is hardy and quite useful, though it doesn’t look that great. A lot of people like about this species that it’s a scavenger, spending a lot of time going through the aquarium’s bottom, sorting the debris.

As the name suggests, the color of the fish is bronze, though in some cases it comes in an albino version (white). This species of fish is quite sociable and you should have six or more of the same type in your aquarium.

The water in which you keep the Bronze Corydoras should have some plants in it, though they’re not that fussy about its quality.

The Bronze Corydoras female is usually a bit longer compared to the male and more robust. When it comes to spawn the eggs, it will usually do it on a rock or on a plant’s leaves.

After the male fish clasps the female, it deposits the sperm. Next, the eggs will be glued by the female to the site it chooses.

They will do the reproduction process a few times, and this can go on for a few hours. Since it can be hard for the male to fertilize all 200 eggs, sometimes there are two of them taking part. It takes around five days for the eggs to hatch.

Archer Fish (Toxotes Jaculator)

The Archer Fish is a fish that is rampant in the waters of Southeast Asia, Polynesia, and in even in the waters at the northeast part of Australia. Known as the Toxotes Jaculator in its genus name, the Archer Fish can live in waters that are neutral to the alkaline. This is the type of fish can grow as long as 25 centimeters and feeds on insects as well as worms.

The size of the Archer Fish is elongated and it is laterally compressed. One of its distinct features is its pointed head. It has eyes that are quite large and a mouth which is slightly faced in a descending position.

More often than not, you could see an Archer Fish that has a brownish back. But there are also some breeds that have a yellow or green shade as well. The flanks on the other hand are sometimes pale grey or silvery. You can also see transverse bars that are colored in black. However, the number of bars varies depending on the Archer Fish. Some have four while others can have six bars. Usually, the first transverse bar can be seen at the eye area of the fish while the last one can be found at the caudal peduncle of the Archer Fish. Unfortunately, it can be quite difficult to differentiate a female from a male Archer Fish.

Although little fishes of this breed are often purchased as freshwater fish, Archer Fish would prefer to live in salt water. That is why if you want your Archer Fish to be healthier, you must add at least a teaspoon of salt per 4 liters of water.

When keeping Archer Fish as your aquatic pet, see to it that your aquarium has shallow water and rocks. Moreover, you must also have plants that would grow at the surface of the aquarium as well.

The main reason why the Archer Fish was called so is because of its ability to shoot water at the insects above the surface. Thanks to its mouth and tongue, this fish can create a tube which allows it to shoot the water with precision. Archer Fish learns this technique by the time it is already 2.5 centimeters long. The range of the fish’s shot would greatly depend on its size. Usually, older and bigger Archer Fish can shoot as far as 1.5 meters or 5 feet.