Pet Shop Advice...

[Edge]

Hi, I recently bought a Jewel Trigon 190 (around 50 gallons) and cylced it using media from one of our other established tanks. I've done fishless cylcing three times now and it's always worked great. So anyway, the first fish I put in were Tiger Barbs, as I've always liked them. I got 8 to try and spread agression as I know they are fin nippers. I also wanted to add a rainbow Shark. I researched and know to only get one, there are also a lot of hding places in the shape of driftwood rocks etc. The problem is the woman in the pet shop wouldn't sell one to me, as she said the Tiger Barbs would instantly kill it, and if I was keeping Tiger Barbs then it had to be a species tank as they are so aggressive. Is this accurate advice or was she being a bit over the top? Thanks.

 

[The Fish Importer]

Sound like she has gone alittle over the top IMO.

What she is saying is half right, for example the 8 tiger barbs would make short work of a few tetras or guppys etc, but a small shoal like 8 wouldnt bother a fish like a rainbowshark.

 

[krishanu]

tiger barbs are relatively peaceful if kept in a shoal of around 6-8. rainbow sharks grow up to about six inches...i really dont see a problem there!

 

[Edge]

OK, thanks guys. I have bought a Red Finned Shark from somewhere else and the tiger barbs have completely ignored him. I really pleased with my choices. They're all great fish

 

[The-Wolf]

as an LFS employee (with 2 years in the trade), I'll add that she was being over protective.
yes TB's do have a deserved reputation for being aggressive,
but that is because most people don't keep them in ideal conditions.

your tank is plenty big enough and your school is a good starter size.
I see no problem with adding a shark.

 

[Apisto]

As a new owner of Tiger Barbs (got seven currently, in with some Kuhlis and a bristle nose) are they compatible with Kribs? The kirbs I've had in the past have always seemed fairly robust and capable of protecting them selves (they spent most of their time chasing hatchet fish that were in the tank)....

 

[rhysiboy]

my dad had some tiger barbs and they were horrible little things. They killed everything by bighting the fins of everything else and then had the cheek to kill each other i think maybe 15 was too many.

 

[millym]

hi
get a minimum of 6+ (8 better)& you should be fine......as long as they have a good sized tank to swim in. we've had 6 tiger b's for over 4 yrs in with a big mix of community fish with no probs (although we dont have any long flowing finned fish, see my signature) ours are always too busy having their own little dominance spats to ever look at another fish. i think people often have probs when they have too many in a too small tank. tb's shouldnt be kept in a tall hex tank as they need the lenght of a tank to swim ie: big footprint. ours are in a 4ft long tank.
love them great little characters we love watching the nose to nose 'jousting' they do to see whos to be king for the day.

 

[Ferris]

As a new owner of Tiger Barbs (got seven currently, in with some Kuhlis and a bristle nose) are they compatible with Kribs?

You'll find that one likely to be the other way around, if a tiger barb nibbles on a Krib, the TB probably won't see out the day.