Tiger barbs

[Tropical boy]

Hello everyone, I have kept tetras for most of the time I have had tanks and really want to try something else. I have been warned off of tiger barbs by other fish keepers and sellers before but would like to know what other people thought. Obviously if I was to get some I would have 6-8 and be keeping the with 2 petricola catfish, a clown plec, a severum, a keyhole cichlid( you are probably thinking what the **** is he doing with a keyhole and severum in the same tank but they are very respectful of each others space and rarely cross each other), a kuhli loach a pearl gourami and a red line torpedo barb. I have a 55 gal tank and am running a bioflow 360 filter with 7 live plants and enough hiding spaces to keep any fish happy. What I really want to know is how tolerant they are of other fish and if they really are as bad as their reputation

 

[XimeD]

I have 6 tiger barbs temporarily in a 20gal with dwarf puffers, a rubberlip pleco, a siamese algae eater and an oto. So far they keep the fighting between each other. At first I got only 4 and one of them would terrorize the other but once I added the other two it was all good, now they school together pretty well and don't mess with the other fish.

I don't know about your fish specifically, I am sure other people here will be able to help with that and as you know from your severum and keyhole things that are not recommended sometimes work. If you do decide to try this out make sure that there are plenty of plants or decorations to break the line of sight.

I love my tiger barbs, they greet me and beg for food they are great fish, I hope you can keep some =)

 

[tyspot1000]

+1 about the severum and keyhole remark.

Its usually best to keep tiger barbs in species only tanks or with aggressive to semi-aggressive fish (not long finned fish). They have been known to kill their tankmates and even their own school mates.

I would advise bringing the schools up on of the Khulis to 6 and Denison barbs to 6 (They do get 5-6 inches, so you might be wanting to get rid of the severum and/or the keyhole) before adding any fish.

Tyler

 

[Spartachris]

I haven't mixed Tiger barbs with too many other fish, but they leave the pleco I have alone, but I second the advice about keeping them in schools, so they can beat each other up and leave the other guys alone

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

I have 9 tigers and 8 albino tigers with 2 blood parrots, black skirts a krib and some gold barbs....they do just fine as long as theyre in groups of 8 or more

 

[maxst2]

I have 12 tiger barbs and 14 tetras in a planted 55 gal. Everyone is happy, and for the most part they all school together...

Thing with tiger barbs is you just need more than 2 otherwise they get bored. They are very active fish.