Tiger barbs getting unfair bad reputation

[Mcgolg76]

I always loved the look of tiger barbs but never bought them because of hearing how aggressive they are. Well about four months ago I had room in my 75 gallon tank and decided to give tiger barbs a try. So I bought 12 of them. They are def one of my favorite fish. Have yet to see any agression out of them. They don't even nip at each other. They follow me around the tank and are always in a beautiful school. So I want to know if any other tiger barbs like them as much as me? Let's defend these misunderstood fish. I also wanna hear from people who have bad experiences when they properly stock them. Tiger barbs are active fish that need plenty of room and friends of their own kind

 

[rockyofhockey]

I had a 40 gallon and but 10. They all died in a week from constant nipping each other fins!! The last one standing was a bully so my leaf fish swallowed him whole

 

[rockyofhockey]

Bought 10 of them. Sorry spellcheck

 

[Mcgolg76]

How big is your leaf fish. Did they def kill each other? Did you see them fighting?

 

[rockyofhockey]

Ya they would constantly nip each other!!! I love tiger barbs but unfortunately can't have them because I have no luck with em and my leaf fish has something against them! He's 4 inches.

 

[azmodan]

I always loved the look of tiger barbs but never bought them because of hearing how aggressive they are. Well about four months ago I had room in my 75 gallon tank and decided to give tiger barbs a try. So I bought 12 of them. They are def one of my favorite fish. Have yet to see any agression out of them. They don't even nip at each other. They follow me around the tank and are always in a beautiful school. So I want to know if any other tiger barbs like them as much as me? Let's defend these misunderstood fish. I also wanna hear from people who have bad experiences when they properly stock them. Tiger barbs are active fish that need plenty of room and friends of their own kind

Tiger barbs typically get a bad rep when they're kept in small tanks and small numbers. With less room and less of their own kind to spread aggression they often nip at other tankmates (particularly those with long flowing fins). Aside from that they're also one of the most popular and commonly sold fish to new aquarists, so many people have first aquarium experiences with tiger barbs chewing up their fish in their tiny starter 10g tanks. Sounds like you got a great set up though! 75g and a nice sized group should keep the aggression within themselves.

On a slightly related note I'd also like to recommend pentazona barbs for those who like tiger barbs but don't like their rambunctious reputation. They look very similar to each other but pentazona barbs are quite peaceful and do very well in community tanks.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I have 14 of them in a 55 with a kissing gourami, rainbow shark and BN pleco.

They still fight amongst themselves and will nip the gourami during feeding time. I feed them first to distract so that the gourami can eat at his feeding station. The rainbow, however, is king of the barbs and has nearly nipped the tails off of two of them who refuse to stay out of his stump. I actually have pictures of all 14 barbs huddling on the bottom in fear of the shark. Eventually one gets brave enough to venture away and when the shark leaves him alone the rest follow. I think it really depends on stocking with these guys, but I think I will eventually make a species tank of barbs and add another larger fish to the 55.

 

[Zactheninja]

I have 5 in a 40 with a pair of oscars and some geophagous and they've been pretty chill, I did start out with 6 though.

 

[enrgizerbunny]

I have 5 in a 40 with a pair of oscars and some geophagous and they've been pretty chill, I did start out with 6 though.

Oscars got hungry?

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[Mcgolg76]

Could also be that some stock have had aggression bred out of them. I know that the siamese bred betas to be more aggressive so i guess that aggressiveness can be bred out.