Barbus hulstearti

By Alan Vassiere 

  
 Although Barbus hulstaerti, (the Butterfly Barb), has been known and documented for some time, it is only quite recently that I have managed to keep this desirable species. Having hunted for it for many years it was not till 2006 that I first obtained some. Unfortunately however, these first specimens were in poor condition and proved difficult to keep alive. It was not until early 2007 that I again obtained them and this time I was able to keep them alive.
I had 3 pairs which turned out to be extremely lucky, as since then, the evidence seems to be that there are far less females than males to be had. In May that year I decided to attempt spawning them. I had spoken to Hans-Georg Evers about them, so, armed with what Hans had told me, plus a little of my own breeding experiences, I set them up.
This is the account of my first spawning of them; I have since spawned them on other occasions but think this first attempt was my most successful;-

The set up..
I set up each pair in a separate 12" X 9" X 8" tank. In each tank I used r/o water, with a pinch of "R/O Right" added. The pH was adjusted using "pH Down" and a peat box filter installed. A pre-scalded almond leaf was then divided between the three tanks.
In each tank, one side was built up with mops from the base to the surface (on the left in photo below), using a new fine textured knitting yarn that I believe to be better than java moss. The other side was left clear. The set-ups were left for a couple of days until the water had darkened to a pale tea colour, then the fish were introduced by slowly mixing water from the tanks to a jar with the fish in. One pair was then introduced to each tank using a net just before dark.
 

B. hulstaerti, almond leaf and yarn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On observation the following morning I could see activity in all three tanks. At times the males were a little aggressive and on these occasions, the females would take cover within the mops. At other times the male would dance around the female trying to lead her to the mops and sometimes she would follow.
 

B. hulstaerti pair

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is when I presume spawning took place. This procedure took place in all three tanks for the next 8 days, (although not always with the same intensity). When I saw two fry in one of the tanks, I removed all 3 pairs.
After 14 days I was able to move all the fry to a growing on tank.

The 3 breeding tanks info and results

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I did in fact spawn them on other occasions and from all those spawnings, I did end up with some females, not in large numbers but enough to let Hans have some and also a couple to Kim Mathiasen from Denmark.

Some observations..
From these other spawnings that were successful, I learnt that they take much longer to become free swimming. Also they do not hang on as normal, but lay on the bottom for up to six days. I tried collecting mops to hatch all together in one tank, to save tying up spawning tanks, but as stated I was able to move the fry at 14 days, so I think my first attempt to be the better option.
On another attempt, the pair was left in with fry and although I believe they do eat them, they certainly didn’t hunt them all, as you would expect barbs to do.

Unfortunately during a prolonged stay in hospital I lost the young fish that I had been keeping back in order to continue working with them. A friend who had been looking after my fish room did too big a water change, and lost them all. Obviously little and often is the better solution.

Sex ratios..
The problem with the numbers of female fish still remains. On the last occasion I got them there were only six females in the whole consignment, and unfortunately they all died within a week. The only other time recently that I have seen them was on a visit to Holland. Only one shop had them and unfortunately they were all males.

So what causes this problem? 
Could it be ph? I believe that they are experimenting with this in Germany. However, I am not convinced that this is the problem.
What about temperature? This could also be a factor.
Or water hardness, maybe?
One would have thought though, that in four different countries; Germany, Czech Republic, Denmark and England, where I know hulstaerti are being bred, that whichever the factor, or factors is causing this imbalance, that somewhere, someone would have chanced upon the right combination.
Could it just be a hereditary thing? One would then assume that a similar ratio would appear in fish taken from the wild.

Update
Since writing much of this account, I have obtained more Hulstaerti and pleased to report that I have males and females, so when they grow a bit, I will be able to continue working with them. 

I would be very interested to hear from any one who has been breeding these fish and who might wish to share an opinion on this subject.

Copyright; Text and photo by Alan P. Vaissiere

(PS. I must thank John Dean, as I do the scribble in the pub, it's John who puts it into "proper English").