A year of keeping Tiger Barbs

[Yenko]

I got my first tank, a 10-gallon tank a year ago. It was stocked with 5 tiger barbs and an Alage eater. I lost a tiger barb on the way home because the guy at the fish store injured it (Not visibly) with the net. It was replaced free of charge. I lost 2 tiger barbs about 2 months later, one to being egg-bound, the other to stress from being picked on by the other fish. The 3 remaining tiger barbs, an adult male and female and a male green barb went into my new 32 gallon tank, and I bought 3 more tiger barbs for them. I just got back from visiting my relatives, and one tiger barb had to be put down; it was stuck at the top of the water unable to swim normally, and one (The smallest) completely dissapeared. No trace of a body whatsoever.

The other Tiger barbs in the tank were behaving normally, showed no signs of disease or poor water quality (Tiger barbs are excellent water-quality indicators, if there is too much ammonia, nitrites or nitrates in the water they swim with their heads pointing down), the much less hardy clown loaches and Apisto were fine. The plants were doing great, and there was no sign of hydrogen sulfide builldup in the sand I could stir it up without producing any bubbles)

My point is, be ready for some dissapointments when keeping a fish as inbred as the Tiger Barb.

 

[millym]

oh im sorry about your barbs.....its strange how some fish that are supposed to be easy to keep just sometimes turn out to be a nightmare. we've had similar probs with zebra & leopard danios- supposedly v hardy, we've lost heaps to no apparent cause bought from different shops & the only symptoms theyve had is that their swimming is a bit wonky before they get really sick ,hang around the top of the tank & then die. maybe our prob is some sort of virus??? dont know. (except our latest casualty who obviously had severe dropsy before we euthanased the poor girl) maybe danios too suffer from inbreeding in some places

 

[digital_run]

I've had my 7 tigers for over a year now....and i must say that i haven't been let down...i guess i was lucky because all of them ive got have been healthy and active little buggers...I know that i would be upset if i lost one.

 

[Loach Man]

I've never been a fan of TIger Barbs.

 

[jaimoe]

My tiger barb experience has been rewarding, although not without tragedy. I had six that I used as target/dither fish in my 75 gallon african cichlid tank for about 3 months. One died, then I transferred them to a 20 gallon with some cories and zebras in it. A second one died, I bought 3 more to bring it up to seven, those 3 died, I bought 2 more to bring it up to six, they died, I bought 2 more at a different lfs and they've been fine. You gotta do a bit of work to get to a healthy school, but once you do, they are a fun fish to have. The six healthy ones I have now are a riot to watch and have had no problems for a few months now. It can be difficult at first but if you hang in there you'll be happy you did.