How many tiger barbs?

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Megalofyia

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 1, 2003
Messages
290
Location
Nebraska
My tank's direction keeps changing. Anyways, I have a florida freshwater eel-this was instead of getting khuli loaches.. , 4 fish that are like 1 - 1.5 inches in length ( i forgot what they are) they are top feeders and pretty, and today I got two tiger barbs-I decided on them instead of clown loaches, but after getting home and reading about them it seems like they do better in groups of 6 or more.
My tank is a 20 gallon and I'd been thinking of getting something to take care of algae but didnt know what to get.
So my question is should I get four more tiger barbs and what sort of algae eater should I get?
Thanks
 
I would go for getting four more tiger barbs, definitely. They tend to swim in groups of 5-7 even when kept amongs a whole bunch of other tiger barbs . . . and they become "awkward fin nippers" if they don't have a small amoung of each other to bother. (I have 6 that tend to do just that and ignore the other fish.) However, if you were to get more, you may overstock your tank, so that may sway this idea into not getting more tiger barbs. As for the algae eater, I wouldn't get a pleco that either grows to be large or is large; that will outgrow your tank and quickly at that. Perhaps a Rubber-Lipped Pleco would do the trick, although even they grow to 5". I don't know if otocinclus (sp) cats remove algae, but if they do, they are ideal; they only grow to about 1.5" each. Hope this helps and good luck!
 
Yeah I'm afraid of overstocking the tank... I asked the people at the petsmart if the tiger barbs would be better in groups or pairs -- the people in the store said fine in pairs... :(

Thanks about the advice on the algae eaters.
 
Cory catfish are the best bottom feeders for smaller tanks in my opinion. They do a really good job, but are also very cute (don't get bigger than 2-3 inches) and fun to watch. I am not familiar with this eel you have though. How big does it get and what does it eat? I'm not sure if the cories would be in danger, since they inhabit the same part of the tank. I would think you need at least 4 more tiger barbs, if you don't want nipping to be a problem. Maybe take the top feeders back to the store so that you could get even more tiger barbs and they wouldn't nip them. That seems like it would be good, and then you could have three cory catfish. TIger barbs are supposed to be really fun to watch in schools.
 
The eel is a carnivore.. he's going to get big I know but he grows rather slowly. I will find out tomorrow if the fish store will take back the top feeders. I'm not sure if I've had them too long to return.
 
I was unable to get to the LFS but I belive that the 4 mystery fish are actually rosy barbs. Does this make a difference? They seem to be quite fast -faster than the tiger barbs anyways. So far no one is picking on anyone. If I am anal retentive about keeping the tank clean how bad would it be to add 4 tiger barbs?

Contents currently of fish tank: (20 gallon long)
1 small slow growing meat loving eel
4 rosy barbs
2 tiger barbs
 
It all depends on how much work you are willing to put into the tank. If you don't want to do too much then don't add more. Your bioload is already on the high side and will only get worse as the eel grows and requires more food. Any uneaten meat will cause ammonia spikes. If the tank looks empty then I would suggest putting in lots of plants. I have a ten gallon with 3 cories and 5 minnows. But with so many plants in it I never feel like I need to cram more fish in it.
 
BTW, no offense to anyone who works in Petsmart, etc... but my experience is that they generally don't know much about anything. I always have one guy tell me something different than the next. Best thing is post any questions here since most of the advice given comes from experience.
 
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