Neon Rosy Barbs

[ab420]

I have a 29 gallon tank, in it are 3 Neon Rosy Barbs, and 4 Tiger Barbs. They are a little nippy, so I was planning to to get more of each so they would leave each other alone. I was told by the fish store, that Tiger
Barbs would only get 2" and the Neon Rosy Barbs would only get 3", so I thought if I had 6 Tigers (6 x 2")=12" + 6 Neon Rosy's (6 x 3")= 18", then 18" + 12" = 30", I would just be over the limit of 1 inch per gallon. But... from what I've been reading on this site, the Tigers can get up to 3" and the Neon Rosy's can get up to 6", so from what I have right now 4 Tigers (4 x 3")= 12" + 3 Neon Rosy's (3 x 6")=18" I'm already slightly over the limit.

So... what am I to do? They are bored and nippy now and want more friends, but if I get them more friends I'll be way overstocked... help?

 

[xJake]

I would try getting 1 more of each and then see how things go. Honestly, you can keep a slightly overstocked tank as long as you keep up with water changes (15-25% every week) and have a good filter that filters at least 5x your tank's total gallons per hour.

 

[ab420]

I would try getting 1 more of each and then see how things go. Honestly, you can keep a slightly overstocked tank as long as you keep up with water changes (15-25% every week) and have a good filter that filters at least 5x your tank's total gallons per hour.

So, my fish are just strange, I read that Tiger Barbs can be fairly aggressive, but Rosey's are more timid, well I have just the opposite! My Neon Rosy's are evil, and keep attacking the Tigers. I moved the 4 Tigers (still fairly young) over to my 5 gallon (a continuously running backup tank). I know they cannot stay there, it's just not enough room for them, on top of only being 5 gallons, it's one of those hex tanks, so it has even less swimming room than a typical 5ga.

Today, I'm going to get them a bigger tank, I'm thinking around a 15 gallon. The Tigers are fine together, and seem to be fine with just the 4 of them. They are ALWAYS right on top of eachother hanging out together and swimming together, and they never nip at eachother, so I think they will be happy with just the 4 of them in a 15 gallon. That way, even if they get full grown, I could still add a few more Tigers in if I wanted to.

As for the Neon Rosy's: How big will they get? I have heard everything from 1.5" to 6", and considering ALL 3 of my Rosy's are over 1.5", that's clearly wrong, but will they really reach 6"?

Right now I just have the 3 of them in a 29 gallon tank, and I've decided it's just going to be a Neon Rosy Tank now, so how many do you think would be a good number, 6 should be ok right? (Total, not 6 more!)

 

[vancouver]

The inch per gallon fish rule doesn't really apply to barbs..

Tigers will reach about 2.5''... roseys shouldn't get any bigger then 2.5-3''

For schooling fish.. you should have 6 or more... so if you can get a few more it will probably calm them down.

 

[ab420]

The inch per gallon fish rule doesn't really apply to barbs..

Tigers will reach about 2.5''... roseys shouldn't get any bigger then 2.5-3''

For schooling fish.. you should have 6 or more... so if you can get a few more it will probably calm them down.

Ok, so now my 4 Tiger Barbs are in a 5 gallon tank I use for quarantine, but that is only temporary, I got a 10 gallon tank today, and filled it with 2 gallons of tap water treated with Stress-Coat, 6 gallons from the 29 gal. tank, and about 1 gallon from the 5 gal. tank. I used half new gravel and half gravel from the 29 gallon tank. I bought a Whisper 20 filter for 10-20 gallons, because it uses the same filter cartridge as my 29 gal., so I took the old cartridge from the 29 and put that in the 10 gallon, and put the new filter in the 29 gal. I also grabbed a rock formation and some plants from the 29 gal. and put them in the 10 gal., so there should be a pretty good amount of bacteria that made it over, plus I used Bio-Spira. I've had it running for about 6 hours now, and I'm going to let it go for about 3-4 days before moving the Tiger's in there (as long as the water levels are all good). I know the Tiger Barbs usually like to have 6 or more, but these 4 are great together, even in a 5 gallon hex tank, which has very minimal swimming space, so they should be fine in the 10 gallon by themselves, although with the Whisper 20, I could probably get away with 1 or 2 more.

Back to the 29 gallon:
It only had 3 Neon Rosy Barbs in it, that were VERY bored and lonely. I asked the lfs owner about getting some more of them, and he sent me home with 6 of them.... FREE!!!

So, I have 9 Neon Rosy's in there now and they are VERY excited about it! I bought some new plants (fake for now) and they are loving them.