Africans Or Barbs

[Magic8]

Good-day all my name is John I am not going to say I am an expert hobbyist but nor am I amateur I have had tanks on and off throughout my life.to sum it up rather quickly my last set-up which was about 4 years ago I had  a 45 gallon with a topside along with a c-360 I went this route to get alot of waterflow I mostly always had africans(mbuna) until breaking down my tank about 4 years ago and purchasing a house now that my daughter is just over three I have the itch to set up a tank again.I still have the c-360(need to see if it still runs which I am sure it does)no longer have a topside filter.
     My question is I always liked the hardiness and high activity of the Mbuna along with their wide array of striking colors and personalities.personality being the focus point of why I always kept them.Which brings me to my point when I did have my tank is was easy to stock Mbuna's because I had a local fish store that dealt strictly in africans which made it easy to pair up one male for every 3/4 females which made my tank not overly aggressive but very active since breaking down my tank this shop has closed down so pairing up females & males could be a bit more of a task so I was tossing around going with a barb tank this time around though not as colorfull and striking as africans I've heard they are quite active and because they are smaller I could probably school a fair amount in a 45 without it being over crowded where as pairing up Africans I only could go with so many as they do get to get some size to them and sometimes you just get a bully who harrsses everyone with africans such the case that I had a greshakei who just hated everyone no matter what I did he just dominated everyone Africans are almost a crapshoot though beautiful,fun fish it really sucks when you get a bully.
      So I am just looking for some thoughts from mostly people who have kept both Barbs & Africans I know how active and fun Africans can be in the right envirment but sometimes its hard to match them up properly and not have a dominant bully.Are Barbs just as active and fun if you have enough in a school or are there other recomendations you all could make.Like I said I'm not new and do have some experience just looking for some different opinions and ides Thank-you
 
John

 

[Chad]

Welcome.
Fun is, of course, subjective. I prefer barbs myself. Especially gold barbs. I think they are a lovely fish with very interesting behavior in a shoal. I have successfully kept them in a community tank as well so they mixed with tetra, molly, platy, and cory without issues in a 30 gallon tank. 

 

[Magic8]

Thanks for the input Tcamos and you are correct fun can be subjective and open to interpetation,Fun I think I would classify as alot of activity with harmless chase games!thanks again.

 

[Chad]

That's what my gold barbs did. They moved within their own circles and left others alone. The only exception to that is they would eat any cherry shrimp that would fit into their mouth and they could catch. But the same is true of cichlids. 

 

[jag51186]

I think barbs would be great for you! I have Denison Barbs, Rosy Barbs, and Black Ruby barbs in my 80 gallon tank. The denisons are very peaceful and rarely fight, but school beautifully. Black Rubies are great though, the males get a little feisty during spawning, but otherwise there are just occasional spats. 

 

[Magic8]

Thanks for the input guys I do have a couple of questions if I do decide to go the Barb route.I will be running a c-360 with a hob filter where I need to situate my tank is going to be in a corner of a room so to make it optimal for viewing I would need to caddy corner the set-up I currently have a 45 gallon and I'm not sure how well a corner tank would suit Barbs.my other option would be to upgrade to a 65 because the footprint length wise would be very close to a 45.Though I would love to go with africans again they are such territorial fish & if you don't have the right male to female ratio's it could be trouble on top of that having already had africans one bad apple can turn your whole tank into chaos thats why I think Barbs would be the better choice right now.I would also like to use pool sand as a bottom rather than gravel would this be ok for Barb's?

 

[Chad]

If you can upgrade, do. I'm just not a fan of corner tanks. I think their shape is limiting. Barbs don't care about substrate really, they don't spend time there. As long as the substrate isn't going to alter the water parameters to something they don't like, they will be fine with your choice. If you plan on keeping cory, which go well with barbs, then a sand is a good way to go. I can't speak toward pool sand though, I've never used it. In a marine tank, which is what I primarily keep, there's too much silica so it's shied away from. 

 

[Magic8]

Sorry I mis-spoke when I said pool sand I meant to say aquarium sand something a little darker in color to bring out their colors.I kind of figured substrate would not matter much as I know barbs are mid tank dwelling fishI'm not really a fan of corner tanks myself.if I can swing it before setting up I may just go ahead a get a 65 if it will fit where I want to put it.if a 45 will fit nicely I can't see why a 65 wont because they are almost the same size lengthwise I would just have to make sure the width would be ok caddy cornering it.Thanks for all your input the more I think about it and go back and forth with you,people on this forum and others as well.I'm finding that Barbs are probably the smarter choce to go with over the africans.I will still get that activity from the barbs like the africans just not the magnificent colors but more importantly less chance of my tank going into chaos with an over aggresive fish or territory issues.

 

[Chad]

On top of that I find that barbs are much easier to care for and more hardy.