Hi Newt
You know my feelings on still water barbus barbus.
This i must add isn't from experiance cos i've never had a still water barbel in fact i've never got a barble on the bank
yet had them on the line just never managed to land one
From reports etc that i've spent time reading it would seem they can't breed in still waters, the barbel needs a gravel type area to breed in & it also needs a running water.
AFAIK there are no reports of any barbel breeding succesfully in any of the still waters they have been introduced to.
There is an excellent fishery at Eccleshall just outside Stafford but i no longer use it as they started to stock barbel last year.
IMO any fishery that does stock barbel are only doing it for the money they can make, although in the long run they are throwing the money away as the fish will die without breeding.
Chub are one of the main fish used to "prove" that running water fish can adapt to still waters & breed succesfully, the chub is a very adaptable fish & this has been proven over many years so the comparision ends at running water.
There are many "experiments" going on as i type that are supposed to be studying whether or not barbus barbus can/cannot adapt to still waters, the problem being the main people conducting these experiments are actually big fisheries & the barbel are being fished for, IMHO if the experiment was to find out whether or not the barbel could adapt it would be better to put them in an isolated water where they don't face the risk of being caught & as such will not have to face any distress at being caught by anglers who don't know how to handle these delicate fish.
I know its not a lot Newt but i hope its helped in some way to answer your question.
Alan
