Red Side Barb

The redside barb is a small fish with a slender, compressed, torpedo-shaped body. The adult size for both the sexes is maximum 7 cm. This species exhibits sexual dimorphism, which allows for easy identification of the sexes. It has two black spots: one at the base of the dorsal fin and one at the junction of body and caudal fin. There is a colored band from its eyes to the spot at the caudal fin. In mature males, the band has a distinct dark red coloration in the middle with a bronze-greenish-colored stripe above the red band. The eyes have a red-colored outer semi-circle. In females, the red is less pronounced and the bronze-colored band will be difficult to distinguish from its body scale color. The females has a slightly plumper body.

The redside barb lives in hill streams, lowland swamps and dry zone rivers and tanks. They are benthopelagic and feed on green algae and detritus.{2,3}. They live on water with pH range 6.5 - 7.5 and dH 5-15.It is found abundantly in the river bank, lowland and hilly stream in Tripura caught mostly by the indigenous tribes