Tiger Barbs, and Angel Fish

[GreenAgain]

Hi all- I have just started up a 29 gal fresh tank with an Eclipse top.
I have so far put in 4 Tiger Barbs, and intend to add another 2, or 3 more in a couple of weeks.
My intention is to eventually add about 4 angel fish.
Am I looking for trouble by mixing these two breeds :?

Thanks

 

[Quake2player]

I personally would not as tiger barbs are known to be the more aggressive of the barbs and fin nippers. I think those beautiful and long fins on Angels would be tempting to them. However, keeping them in a school might keep them away from your angels. Most fin nippers are ok as long as they have a few of their own species to chase around.

There are others here that will disagree and testify to doing this themselves. If you had a larger tank like a 55 or 75, then you prolly have more flexibilty as the 2 species would have more room. I have a 29gal myself and don't think mixing angels and tiger barbs would be a good idea.

You still have a world of options besides Angels:
- make it a "barbs" species tank, with 4-5 tigers, and 4-5 more of another type... they sell those tiger barb look-alikes as in the gold type. I have 3 Rosey barbs... they are as active as the Tigers.
- you definitely need at least a couple of bottom guys: 1-3 Cory cats or 1-2 SAEs or 1-Red Tail Shark for starters.
- other fish I'd keep with tiger barbs: Zebra Danios, red eye tetras, pristella tetras, Harlequin Rasboros, Lemon Tetras, lots of nice fish out there!

As a 29gal owner myself, angels would be one of my last choices to go with 4-6 Tiger Barbs.

 

[Jchillin]

Tiger Barbs + Angels = Danger!! No, it is not recommended. The only time I've heard or seen this combo was with one tiger barb and that is quite possibly the worst way to treat a fish.

As Quake suggests, barbs can do well with some tetras. You can do some research on the compatibility here.

HTH

BTW - Welcome to AA!

 

[apotocki]

I agree that you need to be careful with Angels. I have 5 Angels in a 70 gallon along with other fish including 6 Bleeding Hearts. I just had an issue with one of my Bleeding Hearts. He would not stop harassing the Angels. It was real sad to watch....he was relentless and I felt very sorry for the Angels. This was after they had been in the tank together for a couple of weeks. Needless to say, he went back to the LFS and I'm contemplating taking the other 5 back for something else although they are leaving the Angels alone.

 

[GreenAgain]

Dang. My main want is the angels, so it sounds like I should be returning these tigers. Any other reccomendations for suitable diddler? fish :|

 

[Quake2player]

this might help... I happened to see this on aquatic-hobbyist.com:

"Although it is common for people to keep Angelfish with small Amazonian Tetras (such as Neons), special caution should be taken when mixing these fish, as large Angels are natural predators of small Tetras. South American Dwarf Cichlids, such as Rams (microgeophagus ramirezi or altispinosa) and Apistogramma sp are excellent tankmates for Angels, as are larger Tetras and other fish. Be especially wary of adding fish that are known fin-nippers, such as Tiger Barbs and Serpae Tetras, as an Angels' fins are often too tantalizing to pass up."

I like the idea of a couple of dwarf ciclids going with the Angels except be careful because if you get a male/female pair, even the peaceful Rams may harass all of the tankmates when it's time for them to "get busy". Perhaps a Ram and a Keyhole Cichlid... one of each will help fill out the mid to bottom areas.... they hardly hover at the top areas as the Angels do.

 

[GreenAgain]

I was out sniffing around for replacements for the Tigers- I will return them to my LFS. Stoopidly I didn't do the research myself, and had bought them on the recommendation of the person at the fish store.
I was attracted to Tinfoil Barbs, Lampeye Tetras, and neon dwarf gourami's.
Any input?

 

[Essayons89]

Tinfoils get too large for a 29 gallon. The Lampeye tetras are a Killifish species, they don't get any larger than a neon or cardinal tetra and may end up as lunch for an adult angel. A pair of Neon Dwarf gourami might be okay but I've never tried this combination.

I think that an angel, a small group of one tetra species such as the Lemon tetra or Black Phantom, a pair of rams and a few cories would be a good combination.

Bryan

 

[Guest]

In my 75 gallon tank I have six (yes SIX) tiger barbs and one angelfish. The angelfish has never been touched by any of the tiger barbs and has no problem being around them. As someone pointed out, the barbs are too busy hassling each other to worry about any of the other fish in the tank, which also includes a male betta -- talk about tempting fins!

If you keep tiger barbs, never keep just one or two. I would always recommend at LEAST four.

 

[Essayons89]

Keeping Tiger barbs in groups of at least six to attempt to keep them from nipping the fins of other fish doesn't always work, you can never tell with them. The first group of Tiger barbs that I had never nipped a fin and they were in with Blue, Gold and Pearl gourami. After most of the barbs died I replaced them with new juveniles and they went right after the Pearls. I wasn't going to have any of that going on so the barbs have been living with the Tanganyikans ever since.

Bryan