Centerpiece fish with tiger barbs?

[jinmon]

I'm not sure I'm using the term correctly, but if I wanted a neato-keen fish that would stay towards the top-middle of the tank and maybe be a little larger than your average tetra, and I wanted to put said fish in a tank with nippy little tiger barbs - what would I look at buying?

-Julie (who really likes the tiger barbs. And the bettas, gouramis, and angel fish that probably wouldn't like the barbs as much as she does....)

 

[Alchemy129]

I'm no expert or anything like some of these guys, but i would think some medium sized rainbows(theres lots of different types) would work well for what you want, if you have the room for them. Several types are really beautiful and in general the bigger they are, the better their coloring is, unlike alot of fish that colors fade a lil when they get full grown. I went to the LFS a few months ago and asked a similar question as you have, I told them i needed a fish "that can take it, but doesn't dish it out" and the manager didn't hesitate to point out some australlian rainbows, you'd prolly want to spend a lil more money on a lil more colorful ones though. My went into a tank with a very aggresive golden wonder killi and they nver even noticed eachother.

 

[newfound77951]

I would second the rainbows. I have rainbows and tiger barbs in my 55 and they totally ignore each other. You might have a challenge finding something besides the regular Australian rainbows (which aren't too colorful) but I've noticed that both Boesemanis and turquoises are becoming much more common at the LFS. A good LFS might also be able to order some for you if they don't carry them normally.

Here's a pic of one of my turquoises:

 

[tropicfishman]

tiger barbs are my speciality, along with red tial sharks lol not really I just love them, I agree on the rainbows, I would go with acouple bosermani's though, the colors are truely beautiful!!

 

[Alchemy129]

I almost picked up some Bosemanis today at the LFS to go with my Aussies, but there colors are so poor when there little i couldn't bring myslef to do it. How fast do these guys grow?