Barbs OK

[Rayne]

I currently have 1 angel, 1 RTB shark(or rainbow shark not really sure), 2 guppies, and 1 oto

can i add a school of barbs to my 55 gal tank? will they get along with my other fish?

if so how many? i don't really have any other fish in mind anymore aside from maybe another kind of algea eater. By the way can anyone recommend any algea eaters also?

I had 4 oto's but 3 disapearred, really, i couldn't find any trace of 2 but there was one body i found in the filter but i searched for the other 2 and found nothing.


P.S. the tank is well established with good water test results

 

[Erised]

Barbs can be nippy and for this reason should be kept in quite large groups. Preferable 6+. Though opinions differ on this, I'd not take the risk. People pull it off and have the barbs chasing themselfs only ... others have guppies (they'd be your main concern because of the long tails) without tails.

I'd wait for more opinions on it before making up your mind though This is only hear-say, I have no personal experience with them

--Edit--

People say the same thing about zebra danios as well, and I've had good luck keeping them with a whole bunch of other fish. Though I do have to admit none ever had long tails.

 

[The-Raven]

I wouldn't recommend it with an angel... it wouldn't be an angel for much longer.

 

[Rayne]

my angel dosen't really have really long fins like the angels i have seen in pictures here on this site.

his fins are kind of short not flowy like most angels. i don't know if that makes a difference.

he was a rescue from a bad fish shop in my area. when the guy scooped him out of the tank he wasn't swimming upright but he was still breathing and his fins were almost completely rotted away. his fins have never really grown back that well but it dosn't really matter as long as he wasn't flushed prematurely. i nursed him back to health in a small rubbermaid container and an air pump to provide o2 to the water.

 

[bobwumba]

i donno about the barbs and the angels. It depends what type. basically everything but tiger barbs would probable work out. But if you want a cool schooling fish to go with your angel try out rainbowfish.

 

[Rayne]

Rainbow fish are really expensive in my area so they are kinda out of the question

 

[ccg]

I keep a lot of barbs myself, but never with any other non barb fish...well not anymore.

Right now I have:

6 Tiger Barbs
6 Golden Barbs
6 Cherry Barbs

They are in a 55 gallon tank and are very aggresive for some reason. I had to remove all my cory cats into a 35 gallon because the tiger barbs would not leave them alone.

I suggest that if you are going to get some barbs, you get some cherry barbs. I have read you should keep at least six as they like to be in small groups. My cherry barbs are the only ones who have not shown any aggresion towards any other fish. In the pet stores you may notice they are not very nice looking fish, the younger ones have just not turned red yet. All 6 of mine are bright bright red, really nice.

EDIT: My barbs never bug my pleco's, just the cory cats. They also use to chase female swordtails when I had them in the same tank.

 

[ajhainey]

I keep 5 tiger barbs and 5 green barbs with angels in my 180 litre

Very sucessfully with a small (2"), very fast moving angel (they don't seem to be able to catch him and he spins and threatens right back - they now pretty much ignore him)

Fairly sucessfully (occasional nip but nothing serious) with a relatively large and dominant (4" body) short fin angel fish. If he turns side on (so he looks huge) they all immediately find something very interesting to do a long way away - which is quite funny..."eat you, eat you, EAT YOU - ooh c**p - who? me? I'm just erm, eating this little plant here"

Not very sucessfully at all with a long fin angel (he really has extra, extra long fins - much longer than any photos I've seen - hes a freak!). They absolutely CANNOT resist nipping him - everytime they see him he gets chased. Luckily its a big tank with lots of hiding sports and hes holding his own pretty well but even so I'm considering a new tank so I can seperate them.

So I would say if you find nice tidy short fin angelfish its definately possible, but any dramatic long fin versions are out. IME the green barbs are worse than the standard tigers but I suspect thats just luck of the draw. The cherry ones do seem to be calmer (in the shop anyway) but you can never really tell till you get everyone home.

Hope that helps!

aj

 

[jimw13uk]

I had a shoal of 5 Golden barbs in with my angel and RTBS with no problems at all - they only ever messed around with each other.
I then moved them into another tank with Neons and guppies and again had no problems with them at all.

 

[Lateral Line]

There are very many completely peaceful barbs. Unfortunately, people get attracted to Tiger Barbs which are aggressive out of proportion to their size, and the rest of the barbs get painted with the same brush.

Although larger shoals will reduce interspecies aggression, Tiger Barbs, (and the colour variants), will nip trailing fins, and I'd not put them in with guppies or an angelfish.

Cherry Barbs are very inoffensive, they are not a shoaling fish however. They are best kept as a true pair, or trio 1 male 2 females. 2 Males together may fight.

Golden Barbs are also quite a harmless fish. They grow larger then Cherry Barbs, easily reaching 75mm/3". I have kept them as pairs, but a larger group is better.

Chequer Barbs, gelius, phutunio, bimaculatus etc. are also fine in communities. A lot depends on what you can get of course.

That said, an adult angelfish will eat small fish like guppies and Cherry Barbs, and the shark may well chase small barbs about.

BTW, a RTBS has a red tail only, the other fins are dark. Rainbow shark has red fins.

 

[Airli]

i have 5 golden barbs in with 2 small angels and have had no trouble with them at all. they all swim around happily togther and there has been no nipping whatsoever