stocking question...tiger barbs and...

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mcompton1973

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
7
ok, this is going to be a little long but I figure the more detail I give the better the advice will be.

I have a 30g. fully cycled...up and running about 6 months.

I HAD 10 zebra Danios (down to 1)
5 tiger barbs
5 cory cats
1 clown loach

I had more loaches...they did not make it. After reading more about how big they get I dont want to get more...plus being nocturnal I never see the darn thing.

I have 1 zebra Danio left. The tiger barbs and them always seemed to get along...esp since when I got the barbs they were tiny...but somehow I went from 10 Danios to 1...and he has a crooked back...even by himself I never see anyone bother him. I wondered if the danios died because of water condition or something other than the barbs.

I will be honest...the fish always got fed...but other than that I was gone for like 35 of the last 45 days and no one else did water changes or anything. Alge was pretty thick on the back of the glass etc.

I have everything cleaned up and looking good. all of my measurements are in line except the water is pretty soft and alkaline.

My Barbs do not seem to school too much...The cory's are always on the bottom and all seem fat and happy.

The one thing is I think I would like a little more color in the tank.

I was thinking of getting a redtail shark...I hear they do fine with the barbs...but I wonder about with the cory's.

have a little 5 gallon thank...I dont know if I should get a couple more Danios and put them in the 5 gallon with my crooked back survivor. Should I just get more Danios? Not my first choice as not really doing anything to add color...lol.

I thought Neons...I think I read they will survive the Tiger Barbs.

Any other suggestions?

Decorations are pretty average.
I have 2 live plants..and about 1/2 dozen fake ones and a rock cave that is about 8" long and 4" deep and 6-8" tall.

I also thought about a pleco. I had 3 mystery snails...and even though there is alge they all 3 died.

I am open to any thought and comments. Thank you.
 
mcompton1973 said:
ok, this is going to be a little long but I figure the more detail I give the better the advice will be.

I have a 30g. fully cycled...up and running about 6 months.

I HAD 10 zebra Danios (down to 1)
5 tiger barbs
5 cory cats
1 clown loach

I had more loaches...they did not make it. After reading more about how big they get I dont want to get more...plus being nocturnal I never see the darn thing.

I have 1 zebra Danio left. The tiger barbs and them always seemed to get along...esp since when I got the barbs they were tiny...but somehow I went from 10 Danios to 1...and he has a crooked back...even by himself I never see anyone bother him. I wondered if the danios died because of water condition or something other than the barbs.

I will be honest...the fish always got fed...but other than that I was gone for like 35 of the last 45 days and no one else did water changes or anything. Alge was pretty thick on the back of the glass etc.

I have everything cleaned up and looking good. all of my measurements are in line except the water is pretty soft and alkaline.

My Barbs do not seem to school too much...The cory's are always on the bottom and all seem fat and happy.

The one thing is I think I would like a little more color in the tank.

I was thinking of getting a redtail shark...I hear they do fine with the barbs...but I wonder about with the cory's.

have a little 5 gallon thank...I dont know if I should get a couple more Danios and put them in the 5 gallon with my crooked back survivor. Should I just get more Danios? Not my first choice as not really doing anything to add color...lol.

I thought Neons...I think I read they will survive the Tiger Barbs.

Any other suggestions?

Decorations are pretty average.
I have 2 live plants..and about 1/2 dozen fake ones and a rock cave that is about 8" long and 4" deep and 6-8" tall.

I also thought about a pleco. I had 3 mystery snails...and even though there is alge they all 3 died.

I am open to any thought and comments. Thank you.

RTBS get WAY too big for a 29 gallons IMO, they need a big tank. Also quite aggressive so they need a big tank to diffuse aggression.

Zebra danios are too active for 5 gallons, as for the crooked backed one maybe you should try returning him to the LFS in exchange for another fish.

Neon tetras are fine with tiger barbs IMO, active and fast enough to stay clear of the tiger barbs.

Hope this helps! :)
 
As bruinsbro1997 said .. a 30gal is too small for an RTBS due to their territorial aggression as well as a pleco (assuming common pleco) Neons should do ok with TigerBarbs ... they're small and fast enough to simply avoid them. Cardinal Tetras are another tetra option ... but one of the best tetra options I've heard/read about are Serpea Tetras.

Keep in mind ... Danios come in various colors ... not just the zebra which is the most common found in LFS's. But blue, leopard and glofish danios are just some options ... but a 5 gal is too small for such active fish.
 
Wonder if my crooked backed zebra would integrate into a group of glofish danios is I got some of them...basically they are the same fish from what I read, and it would give me the color I was looking for.

What about 6-8 glofish...

some places I read 5 tiger barbs is plenty...and I have also read that 6-10 is a better size for a school.

thoughts?
 
I would suspect the glofish would treat your zebra like any other zebra ... they are the same species basically.

With TigerBarbs it can be tough to tell .. but 7 seems to be a number that's coming up more and more as a good shoal size. It spreads out there aggression towards each other as they establish their hierarchy.
 
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