Mixing Tiger Barbs with other species

[Sky042]

Wondring if it'd be safe to add tiger barbs to a tank containing the following species of fish

Bala Shark
Flame gouramis
Neon Tetra
Cardinal Tetra.
Yo-Yo Loach
Panda Cory.
Cherry Barb.

Thanks
Kyle

 

[tstenback]

It shold be fine with those fish. Of course you know that some of these guys are notorious nippers even if kept in large groups. If your not 100% stuck on tigers i would recommend Puntius pentazona pentazona or the five banded barb. similar look but a whole lot less attitude. here's a link HTH

 

[Ruby Shark]

In my opinion you are taking a chance whenever you put Tiger Barbs into a community tank. I had Tiger Barbs before and the smallest one used to chase and nip my old RTB who was three inches long. I'm sure that people have had success with TB's with the most docile of fish but I'm just warning you.

I don't see a major problem with many of your fish except for the Flame Gourami. They are more of a slow moving peaceful fish and even if the Barbs don't nip him he might get stressed.
Also Bala Sharks can be quite timid when alone so adding Barbs might stress him out if he is the only one in the tank.

If you do decide to go with TB's, make sure that you add at least six.

 

[Sky042]

the 2 flames are kinda agressive at elast toward each other. the balas are a pack of 3. the 5 banded bard actually is sold by my LFS as a clown barb gorgeous fish just silver and black.

 

[Ruby Shark]

Really? Mine just sat in the corner when I the barbs. They(Tiger Barbs) were little buggers though...the little one that chased my shark was from that group. lol

That's great that you have the Bala's together.

You might not have any problems at all...I just like to generally warn people that there is a chance of fin nipping and stress you know?

I hope everything works out well...and by the sounds of things it "probably" will.

 

[tmlhaus]

I wouldn't put tiger barbs with anything but other barbs. They are nippers, and they will go after anything, and I mean anything. I traded mine in because I wanted a peaceful tank.

 

[Mandark McKill]

I keep a lot of barbs and they generally prefer to chase amongst their own kind. In about groups of five they are usually only aggressive to each other. HOWEVER, they love to nip anything with a big fin, angels etc. usually get carved down!!!!

Go the barbs, in my opinion no other fishes come close to their colours and "activeness"

 

[Max Action]

My 11 tiger barbs leave the 2 overgrown feeder guppies alone entirely, and don't chase or nip the blind cave tetra (although they did all have a go at him when first introduced). In fact, the blind cave tetra sometimes nips at THEM (when they're all after an algae pellet on the bottom with him) and even schools around with them as best as he can sometimes. When they chase anything it's each other. So far. We'll see as I get more fish once cycle's done ...

EDIT: And they're super cool fish. Into everything, super active, curious, and interesting to watch.

 

[TK Tiger]

yeah from reading all this i think i am going to get some more barbs for the tank i am going to mix species though and get some more tigers too

 

[nightlife20]

i used to love my barbs tank

i had tb's, large green barbs, ruby barbs, golden barbs, rosey barbs and albino tb's.

i have my albino rainbow shark in that tank, along with some cories, after 3 days the cories had to be taken out because of exsesive nipping from most of the barbs.. i had to move the shark out because he was aggressive towards the barbs it was a mantal tank.... the only fish that i found were ok in there were my kuli loaches because they were fast movin


if i had the room id defo set up another barb tank they are totaly interested in everything that goes on outside the tank and on the inside... u can see them kinda think 'whats that' 'what u doin' 'ohhh whats that' lol

 

[TK Tiger]

yeah you are right they do seem to be interested in everything. i only want barbs now after reading so much about them i am gonna get more tonight and add them to the 3 i have already

 

[Speck the Fish]

My 2 cents.

Not sure of the tank they will be going in but if you have lots of swimming and places to explore I'd get the tiger's. I love tb's. I've got a school of 19 made up of the three varients (regular, green, albino).

They are really curious, and I think a good addition to my tank. BUT as everyone tends to agree they do like to nip. Personally if I see one particular barb that likes to nip the other fish more often I take my net and give him/her away. This reduces the nipping as a dominant male can think he needs to defend his tank space.

Ahh, tiger barbs those little rascals

 

[nicebigbuds]

I don't agree that Tiger Barbs are overly aggressive towards other fish, in fact I think they're fantastic fish as along as there kept in a big enough group (at least six in a group).

In a big enough group, IME, their fin nipping tendancies go out the window as they only chase each other about and totally ignore the other fish.

I've got a RTBS in there, and it chases the barbs all over the place, becuase it knows it's the boss

 

[Grouchy]

I enjoy my tiger barbs, seven adults and about 28 youths divided amongst two tanks.

Historically, before I knew better, we had one barb in with platys, guppies and neon tetras. It was aggressive for a couple of weeks then just chased its reflection for hours not bothering a soul. A later batch contain a mean little barb (see "Stab" in another thread) who attacked the other barbs, left the platys alone (only fish left), and loved to tug on the tail of the pleco about five times his size.

A large group of youth (over 30) would take nips at a cory catfish and occasionally the pleco.

I would definitely recommend keeping a group of six or more to dissipate the aggression. I think the group pacified when I added some plantlife (a couple spades and some grass) for them to play in.