Discherodontus is a genus of barbs in the carp family, Cyprinidae, from river systems in mainland Southeast Asia and southern China, with species recorded from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and China. Species in the atlas span roughly 2.5–5.5 in, sizing them among the mid-range river barbs of the region — built like typical Cyprinidae barbs, with a streamlined, laterally compressed body and forked tail suited to holding position in flowing water. As with most barbs of this size class, they are schooling, omnivorous fish, feeding on a mix of small invertebrates, algae, and plant material in the rivers and larger streams they inhabit.
Discherodontus has only a marginal presence in the aquarium trade; Discherodontus ashmeadi, sold as the redtail barb, is the one species that occasionally turns up for keepers looking for something beyond the common commercial barbs, valued for its size and the reddish tail that gives it its name. The rest of the genus is little known outside regional ichthyology. Data on the group's conservation status are genuinely sparse — two species in the atlas are Data Deficient and one is ranked Endangered — a pattern common to smaller Southeast Asian river fish that have not received much recent survey attention.