What gets along with tiger barbs?

[bud29]

I am fascinated with tiger barbs, but I've read that if you get tiger barbs, you can't get any other fish because they are so aggressive. Is this true? Where I buy my fish they are being kept with pictus catfish. Would it work to keep a couple of those with them? And how many of each could I get? My tank is 30 gallons.

 

[Honeycomb073]

Usually, tiger barbs aggression is because they are kept in too small a group. Most fast/semi-aggressive fish, without long fins, will work with a larger (more than 5) school of tiger barbs.

 

[LyndaB]

You should eliminate the pictus from your wish list. Although they are relatively small, they require a school of at least 5, in my opinion, and require lots of cruising space in a tank. They do better in larger environments.

I agree with honeycomb, as long as tigers are kept properly, in a good size school, they should be fine with many other species. That said, I wouldn't keep them with extremely peaceful fish like rummynose tetras, who would freak out from all the activity.

I attempted tigers in my community tank and they just stressed everybody else out. All of my other species at the time were very peaceful. So, if I were to do it again, I'd go with semi-aggressive species who can hold their own against the barbs.

 

[bud29]

How about 10 tiger barbs, 6 zebra danios, and a blue gourami?

 

[LyndaB]

Sorry, edited my response as I thought I was responding to another poster. ARGH!

All your fish are in one level. You want to stock for top, middle and bottom.

 

[bud29]

Wait....I thought that zebra danios dwelled at the top

 

[LyndaB]

Danios are psychotic little fish. They're all over but mine were mostly in the mid-top level. Until my rainbow shark ate 'em all. Nom nom.

 

[bud29]

Ok then what are my other options with the tiger barbs? I have terrible selection at my store.

 

[BBradbury]

Fish That Go w/ Tiger Barbs

I am fascinated with tiger barbs, but I've read that if you get tiger barbs, you can't get any other fish because they are so aggressive. Is this true? Where I buy my fish they are being kept with pictus catfish. Would it work to keep a couple of those with them? And how many of each could I get? My tank is 30 gallons.

Hello bud...

Dave, my resident expert on fish told me there are several fish that will go into your "Community Tank" with Tiger Barbs. He's says the fish need to be the size of your Tigers or a bit larger. A male Swordtail is good. Other good fish are Yo-Yo Loaches, Bleeding Hearts and Blue Gouramis.

Hope this helps.

B

 

[bud29]

Thank you. That helps quite a bit.

 

[BBradbury]

Fish to go w/ your Tiger Barbs

Hello again bud...

Totally forgot about how many of the the fish to stock in your 30 G. Dave specifically said no more than the following of each in your 30 G.

Only one male Swordtail, they're aggressive and need space.
5 Tiger Barbs. Pretty, but are "Fin-nippers.
Only a couple of Yo-Yo Loaches, they get pretty large.
4 Bleeding Hearts. These are fairly large for Tetras.
2 Blue Gouramis. These guys get big.

B

 

[bud29]

Thanks again!

 

[mikeISright]

I too love the look of tiger barbs. I have kept tiger barbs with both peaceful and aggressive fish without any complications. I cant express how important it is that u keep these guys in schools of about 9-11. When i attained my first four, they were very aggressive to all my fish until i got the next 8. Now they could care less about other fish (they also look even more beautiful in large schools) and work great as dither fish. IMO i would keep 9-11 tiger barbs in a 30 gallon with some cories (they are top swimmers and hardly move to the bottom.. The barbs that is) and maybe a parrot or a convict cichlid as a centerpeice. I have not had good experiences with gouramis and barbs in the same tank. Hope this helps.

 

[jcolon]

I am fascinated with tiger barbs, but I've read that if you get tiger barbs, you can't get any other fish because they are so aggressive. Is this true? Where I buy my fish they are being kept with pictus catfish. Would it work to keep a couple of those with them? And how many of each could I get? My tank is 30 gallons.

I'm a little late for this thread, but TB's tend to get a bad rap. Keep them in a large enough shoal and avoid slow moving large flowing finned fish and your good. The TB's in my tank do not bother any of the non-barbs.

Zebra danios make good energetic tank-mates, so do many tetras, H- rasboras.
Angelfish and betta's... Not always so good.

 

[bud29]

I too love the look of tiger barbs. I have kept tiger barbs with both peaceful and aggressive fish without any complications. I cant express how important it is that u keep these guys in schools of about 9-11. When i attained my first four, they were very aggressive to all my fish until i got the next 8. Now they could care less about other fish (they also look even more beautiful in large schools) and work great as dither fish. IMO i would keep 9-11 tiger barbs in a 30 gallon with some cories (they are top swimmers and hardly move to the bottom.. The barbs that is) and maybe a parrot or a convict cichlid as a centerpeice. I have not had good experiences with gouramis and barbs in the same tank. Hope this helps.

It does help. I'm planning on getting a school of 6 cories for my tank. Also, which kind of gouramis have you had with your barbs? I'm just wondering because so many places have said honey gouramis and blue gouramis go very well with tiger barbs...

 

[bud29]

I'm a little late for this thread, but TB's tend to get a bad rap. Keep them in a large enough shoal and avoid slow moving large flowing finned fish and your good. The TB's in my tank do not bother any of the non-barbs.

Zebra danios make good energetic tank-mates, so do many tetras, H- rasboras.
Angelfish and betta's... Not always so good.

That's very true....when I started doing research all I was seeing was "Tiger barbs are too aggressive to be kept in community tanks" and "They should be kept in species-only tanks." But when I did more research I found that there are suitable tankmates, especially if you have a big enough group pf the tiger barbs.

 

[jcolon]

That's very true....when I started doing research all I was seeing was "Tiger barbs are too aggressive to be kept in community tanks" and "They should be kept in species-only tanks." But when I did more research I found that there are suitable tankmates, especially if you have a big enough group pf the tiger barbs.

Yep... I feel they make great tank mates with proper fish. Aside from bugging the tetras for the first couple of minutes when first introduced, all the tetras swim openly in the tank.

A close resembling genus to T-Barbs are Black Ruby Barbs. Very similar in appearance, but not as fin nippy.

 

[mikeISright]

It does help. I'm planning on getting a school of 6 cories for my tank. Also, which kind of gouramis have you had with your barbs? I'm just wondering because so many places have said honey gouramis and blue gouramis go very well with tiger barbs...

Yeah i have 4 cories right now with them (i used to have 6 but 2 died ..) and they are ignored. I had opaline gouramis, gold gouramis, and pearl gouramis but they all died 2 from the barbs harrassment. Now they r with my jellybean comvict and parrot cichlid and thriving. Heres my ideal 30 gallon if barbs are a must have and so are cories.
9-11 tigers
1 convict OR jewel or BParrot OR 2 pearl gouramis.
4-6 cories.

That is pretty heavily stocked but can and will be a very good looking tank. If u have to have a gourami also, pearls are my ABSOLUTE favorite and for me where quite territorial. They will go great with barbs IMO. My opalines were idiots and just aggressive as anything. I will only keep pearls and maybe some dwarf species in the future. Again i hope this helps.

 

[jcolon]

It does help. I'm planning on getting a school of 6 cories for my tank. Also, which kind of gouramis have you had with your barbs? I'm just wondering because so many places have said honey gouramis and blue gouramis go very well with tiger barbs...

Gouramis are on of the few fish who are tough enough to bully T-Barbs. I used to have a Blue that ran the tank! When my T-Barbs would fight for dominance of the shoal, he'd break it up.

 

[bud29]

Yeah i have 4 cories right now with them (i used to have 6 but 2 died ..) and they are ignored. I had opaline gouramis, gold gouramis, and pearl gouramis but they all died 2 from the barbs harrassment. Now they r with my jellybean comvict and parrot cichlid and thriving. Heres my ideal 30 gallon if barbs are a must have and so are cories.
9-11 tigers
1 convict OR jewel or BParrot OR 2 pearl gouramis.
4-6 cories.

That is pretty heavily stocked but can and will be a very good looking tank. If u have to have a gourami also, pearls are my ABSOLUTE favorite and for me where quite territorial. They will go great with barbs IMO. My opalines were idiots and just aggressive as anything. I will only keep pearls and maybe some dwarf species in the future. Again i hope this helps.

Thank you!