Panda barbs in 29 gallon?

[Stefan3289]

Hello all,

I had a discussion in a past forum where I was having some issues with my mollies passing away, and found out that mollies should be in hard water and not soft. I currently still have the 5 from last time and they are doing great. I was doing some research on maybe some substitutes I could do as I don’t wanna have them pass away as well down the line if the water is affecting them. I was interested in Panda barbs as they seem active, colorful, and peaceful. I do have a group of Cories (now 8 as I added two more) that are still small, so I was worried maybe that they might chase them around even if it says they are good tank mates. Has anyone kept panda barbs or could give me advice? I’m also seeing conflicting info on their size, some say they stay around 3”, some say they get around 5”. Any advice would be helpful.

 

[Byron]

this should start you off.

Haludaria fasciata – Melon Barb (Puntius fasciatus, Dravidia fasciata) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Mollies must have a hardness of 15dH (268 ppm) or higher or they will not manage long-term.

 

[Stefan3289]

this should start you off.

Haludaria fasciata – Melon Barb (Puntius fasciatus, Dravidia fasciata) — Seriously Fish

www.seriouslyfish.com

Mollies must have a hardness of 15dH (268 ppm) or higher or they will not manage long-term.

Yeah that’s why I was starting to ponder substitutions for them while I also try to see if I can give them away locally for free if someone wants to care for them. But would Panda barbs be ok mainly size wise and also temperament wise. I know they are schooling like most barbs so I would need to get around 6-8, so my stock would then be 8 Cories (will increase to 10 soon most likely) and then 6-8 panda barbs (after I give away mollies). Would that be a good stock? The tank is planted and also I have a larger than needed filter mainly so I can put a larger bio media so hold more bacteria for a bigger bio load. I clean the tank 50% weekly as well.

 

[Byron]

The tank here (29g, which I assume to be 30 inches/75cm length (?), is perhaps a tad short (length) for this barb. Personally I would look into some of the other peaceful (relatively) barbs. Barbs are generally active swimmers, so length is important, more than it would be for similarly-sized fish that are not active. SF recommends minimum 8-10 of this barb, I would not go below that.

From what I've seen, there are no issues with cories or other similarly active fish, it is the tank space that is important here.