newbie

[aquaplanner]

im getting a tank soon, and i would like to know what size tank would be needed for 6 tiger barbs, and 2 brittlenose plecos. another suggestion is 8 blood parrot fish, im going to try to buy the correct size after i know the required size, thanks

 

[Mumma.of.two]

im getting a tank soon, and i would like to know what size tank would be needed for 6 tiger barbs, and 2 brittlenose plecos. another suggestion is 8 blood parrot fish, im going to try to buy the correct size after i know the required size, thanks

Welcome to AA!
For 6 tiger barbs and 2 BNP I'd suggest at least a 30g tank. For 8 blood parrots you would need a tank in the 100's of gallons.

 

[bud29]

Yeah you would need a gigantic tank for 8 blood parrots. And with that size tank you could IMO do something much cooler than that.

 

[aquaplanner]

Looks like I will do the first option

 

[bud29]

And in a 30 gallon you could get more than 6 tiger barbs. You could get maybe 10-11, and you could have different color groups of them. For example, you could have 4 albino tiger barbs, 4 green tiger barbs, and 3 regular tiger barbs. It would look very cool. I think you could also have a swordtail as a centerpiece fish.

 

[aquaplanner]

Thanks, will get more Barbs since it lowers the aggression and won't the swordtails long tail tip be temptating for the barba? I heard barbs fun nip long fins. Just a thought , but if I kept the 6 tiger barbs and to bn plecos, how many panda cories would be able to go in, I'm willing to get one fish overstocked since my filter is stronger than the original.

 

[aquaplanner]

I've heard that blood parrots are quite popular and trying to find out how many can fit in a 30 gallon with a Cory and a bn pleco?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Blood parrots get rather large so for just one you would need a tank larger than 30g.

 

[bud29]

Thanks, will get more Barbs since it lowers the aggression and won't the swordtails long tail tip be temptating for the barba? I heard barbs fun nip long fins. Just a thought , but if I kept the 6 tiger barbs and to bn plecos, how many panda cories would be able to go in, I'm willing to get one fish overstocked since my filter is stronger than the original.

You could probably put in 5 panda cories. Just make sure that the water conditions are good because pygmy cories are sensitive to bad water. As for the swordtails, they grow larger than the barbs so that discourages a bit of the nipping, and they can fight back if being attacked so they won't put up with much crap from the TB's. I strongly recommend a shoal of 9+ barbs though, because then they will keep more of the nips aimed towards their own type, not other other species.

 

[aquaplanner]

So 3 panda cories, 8 tiger barbs, and 1 bn pleco will be fine?

 

[bud29]

I would say get 1-2 more cories, 1 more TB, and 1 swordtail.

 

[fearlessfisch]

I wouldn't put a BN pleco in anything less than a 55 gallon. People say they don't grow past about four inches, but I have a male albino bristlenose who is easily five and probably six inches long. I'm sure he could live in a 30, but I wouldn't consider it a good quality of life for him. I often feel sorry that he doesn't have more space in my 55.

I would get a bigger tank if you can. You will end up wanting one anyway.

If you do decide to get a BN pleco, remember that they need driftwood in the tank, and you will need to buy algae disks for them.

 

[Samzter]

I wouldn't put a BN pleco in anything less than a 55 gallon. People say they don't grow past about four inches, but I have a male albino bristlenose who is easily five and probably six inches long. I'm sure he could live in a 30, but I wouldn't consider it a good quality of life for him. I often feel sorry that he doesn't have more space in my 55.

I would get a bigger tank if you can. You will end up wanting one anyway.

If you do decide to get a BN pleco, remember that they need driftwood in the tank, and you will need to buy algae disks for them.

Lots of people have bristle nose plecos in a 30g. It won't harm them. But your right, you will want a bigger tank in the future and he should be the first one to go in it!

 

[aquaplanner]

I already accidentally bought a bn pleco for my ten gallon( learned my lesson), already have mopani wood and hikari algae disks, but could I add 1 dwarf gourami instead of a swordtail?

 

[bud29]

I think a dwarf gourami would be bullied by the tiger barbs. It is a more timid fish that probably won't be able to fight back. A three spot gourami is a larger gourami that could stand its ground but I am not sure if it could be in a 30 gallon. And IMO swordtails look much cooler than three spot gouramis.

And I agree with samzter, when you get a bigger tank you should probably put the BN in it, but it will be fine in a 30 so it is not a necessity to rehome it.

-bud

 

[aquaplanner]

Are there any other dish I can get besides a swordtail, I've had them many times, so they're kind of boring to me.

 

[bud29]

How much are you set on the cories? If you nix them you could get a keyhole cichlid or a female convict cichlid. Definitely wouldnt be boring.....If you want the cories, you could look into blue gouramis or three-spot gouramis. I also think gold gouramis are OK with tiger barbs. But don't confuse the gold gourami with the honey gourami! The honey gourami would be bullied just as bad as the dwarf.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Three spot, opaline and gold gouramis are the same fish just different color morphs. I would be wary of a gourami with TB. TB get larger than you might think and IMHO having 9-10 in a 30 with a BNP is about stocked. No room for cories.

 

[aquaplanner]

I already have a Cory accidentally(learned mistake), and planning to move it to the new tank, so could I add two more cories to make him happy?

 

[bud29]

Probably, I would say 2-3. How set are you on the pleco? They have a huge bio loads so removing that might loosen up your stocking possibilities a bit. IMO 9 TBs, 3-4 cories, and one three spot gourami would not be overstocked in a 30 gallon. You definitely shouldn't add any more fish to that, but I think that by sticking to that plan you will be OK. Good luck on your tank.


-bud