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title: "Cherry Barb: The Complete Care, Tank & Breeding Guide" description: "The definitive cherry barb (Puntius titteya) care guide: peaceful barb tank setup, water parameters, the red breeding male, shoaling, feeding, tank mates, and breeding." slug: cherry-barb commonName: Cherry Barb scientificName: Puntius titteya family: Cyprinidae order: Cypriniformes difficulty: Beginner minTankSize: 15 temperature: "73–81°F (23–27°C)" ph: "6.0–7.5" hardness: "2–15 dGH" lifespan: "4–6 years" maxSize: "2 inches (5 cm)" origin: "Sri Lanka" publishedAt: "2026-06-04"

Cherry Barb: The Complete Care, Tank & Breeding Guide

The cherry barb is the peaceful exception in a family known for fin-nipping troublemakers — a small, hardy, beautifully coloured barb whose males flush a deep cherry-red and that gets along happily in a calm community tank. Puntius titteya offers all the activity and colour of a barb without the aggression of its tiger-striped cousins, making it one of the best small shoaling fish for beginners and planted community tanks alike.

This guide is the complete reference: the cherry barb's biology, how to set up its tank, what to feed it, why it's so much gentler than other barbs, which tank mates suit it, and how to breed it.

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Species Overview

The cherry barb (Puntius titteya) is a small cyprinid from Sri Lanka, reaching about 5 cm (2 inches). Females and non-breeding fish are a modest tan-to-bronze with a darker horizontal line, but breeding males transform into a glowing deep cherry-red, especially when displaying — one of the most attractive reds among small community fish. A "long-fin" line-bred variety also exists.

The cherry barb is peaceful, hardy, adaptable, and long-lived (4–6 years), and crucially it is the gentlest of the commonly-kept barbs — it does not nip fins, unlike the tiger barb. It's a loose-shoaling fish that's confident and colourful in a group, suiting community and planted tanks. Its combination of beauty (especially the red males), hardiness, peacefulness, and easy breeding makes it an excellent first fish and a reliable community staple.

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Natural History and Origin

Puntius titteya is endemic to Sri Lanka, living in shaded, slow-moving forest streams and pools with soft substrate, leaf litter, and dense marginal vegetation — calm, often tannin-stained water under heavy cover. This shaded, planted habitat shapes its care: it feels most secure and shows its best colour in a well-planted tank with subdued lighting and some cover.

In the wild, cherry barbs forage among plants and leaf litter for small invertebrates and other foods, and males display their red to females and rival males. Wild populations have faced pressure from habitat loss and collection, but the species is now widely and abundantly tank-bred, producing hardy, adaptable, peaceful fish. Its gentle disposition — unusual among barbs — and its rich red males have kept it a community favourite for decades.

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Water Parameters

Cherry barbs are hardy and adaptable, thriving across a wide range of conditions, which makes them ideal for beginners. They show their best red in soft, slightly acidic, planted, gently tannin-stained water, but tolerate most stable, cycled community tanks. Confirm cycling with the nitrogen cycle tracker and check values with the water parameters reference.

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Tank Setup Guide

Tank size

A shoal of 6–8 cherry barbs is comfortable in a 15-gallon (57-litre) tank, with 20+ gallons better for a larger group or community. They're small, peaceful, and undemanding of space.

Aquascape — planted with cover

Cherry barbs shine in a planted tank with cover and subdued lighting. A dark substrate, driftwood, leaf litter, and dense planting (with Java moss and broad-leaved plants) make them feel secure and dramatically intensify the males' red, while leaving some open space for shoaling. Floating plants like duckweed help dim the light and add security. A shaded, planted scape mirrors their forest-stream habitat and brings out their best behaviour and colour.

Filtration, flow, lighting

Use reliable filtration with gentle-to-moderate flow and moderate-to-subdued lighting. A planted, stable tank brings out their colour, and they're forgiving enough to do well in standard community conditions.

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Feeding Guide

Cherry barbs are omnivores with small mouths that take a wide variety of foods.

What to feed

• Quality micro-pellets and flake — a convenient staple.
• Live and frozen daphnia and baby brine shrimp — relished, excellent for colour (especially the males' red).
• Bloodworm, cyclops, and small frozen foods for variety.
• Some vegetable/spirulina content rounds out the diet.

How often

Feed two to three small meals daily. A varied diet with regular small live/frozen foods deepens the males' cherry-red. A healthy cherry barb is well-coloured, active, and shoals confidently in the open.

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Behavior and Temperament

Cherry barbs are peaceful and gentle — the defining trait that sets them apart from other barbs. They are loose shoalers that are confident and colourful in a group of 6 or more, foraging and displaying together through the planted tank. In small numbers they become shy and washed-out, so a proper group is important; and a good group also lets males display their red to one another harmlessly.

Unlike the tiger barb, cherry barbs do not nip fins and are safe with long-finned and slow tank mates. Males display to each other and to females with intensified red and flared fins, a harmless and attractive behaviour, especially in a well-stocked group with more females than males to spread attention. Their peaceful nature, activity, and colour make them an ideal community shoaler.

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Compatibility

Cherry barbs are excellent peaceful community fish, safe even with the long-finned and gentle species that other barbs harass.

Good tank mates: harlequin rasbora, neon tetra, ember tetra, corydoras, otocinclus, dwarf gourami, honey gourami, bristlenose pleco, kuhli loach, and betta fish (peaceful individuals — cherry barbs won't nip a betta's fins, unlike tiger barbs).

Cautions:

• Large or predatory fish — may eat the small barbs.
• Aggressive fish — stress the gentle shoal.

There are very few unsuitable tank mates beyond those large enough to eat them. Use the compatibility checker — a cherry barb shoal is one of the most universally compatible community choices.

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Breeding Guide

Cherry barbs are easy to breed, making them a great first breeding project. Sexing is obvious in condition: males are slim and deep cherry-red; females are rounder and tan-bronze.

Condition a group on rich live foods. Cherry barbs are egg-scatterers that eat their own eggs, so set up a breeding tank with dense fine-leaved plants, Java moss, or a spawning mop (and optionally a mesh or marble layer to protect fallen eggs). A male will court a female intensely, his red blazing, and the pair scatters eggs among the plants. Remove the adults after spawning to protect the eggs. Eggs hatch in a day or two, and the fry become free-swimming after a few more days, reared on infusoria, then microworms and baby brine shrimp. A well-planted, mature community tank sometimes yields surviving fry naturally. Their reliable spawning and easy fry make cherry barbs an excellent introduction to breeding egg-scatterers.

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Health and Disease

Cherry barbs are hardy, and disease is uncommon with good care.

Ich can follow temperature swings or stress; treat promptly. Bacterial and fungal infections follow poor water or stress. As shoaling fish, they're stressed by being kept in too-small a group, which dulls their colour and undermines their health. Newly added fish may be pale until settled.

Prevention: a stable, cycled, planted tank with good water quality, a proper shoal, gentle flow, small varied foods, peaceful tank mates, and quarantine of new arrivals. Given their hardiness, cherry barbs are among the most trouble-free community fish in the hobby.

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Interesting Facts

• The peaceful barb. Almost uniquely among commonly-kept barbs, the cherry barb doesn't nip fins — safe even with bettas and long-finned fish.
• Blazing males. Breeding males flush a deep cherry-red, one of the richest reds among small community fish.
• A Sri Lankan endemic. It's found naturally only in Sri Lanka, though it's now abundantly tank-bred worldwide.
• Easy to breed. Its reliable egg-scattering spawn and hardy fry make it a great first breeding project.
• Colour through cover. A shaded, planted tank with more females than males brings out the males' best red and most natural behaviour.

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Bringing It Together

The cherry barb is the gentle, glowing, beginner-proof barb — all the colour and activity of the barb family with none of the fin-nipping aggression, making it safe in virtually any peaceful community. Give it a 15-gallon-plus planted tank with cover and subdued lighting, stable (ideally soft, slightly acidic) water, gentle flow, small varied foods, and peaceful tank mates — and keep a shoal of 6 or more with extra females — and the males will blaze cherry-red as they display, very possibly leading to an easy spawn. It pairs beautifully with harlequin rasboras, corydoras, and a honey gourami centerpiece. Plan the build with the AI Tank Blueprint generator and the compatibility checker.