tiger barb tank mates

[Sorrell]

Hi I have a 10 gal that has five tiger barbs. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on what else I could put in there. If nothing else, I'd be happy with more tiger barbs-they are real characters.

 

[Lateral Line]

As you're probably aware, Tiger Barbs can be fin nippers, and will stress out slow moving fish, so you need something short finned and fast swimming. Problem is that a lot of the standard choices are schooling fish and you need 5-6 of them, and that will overstock your tank.

Get a couple more Tigers if you like them!

 

[PereguineFalcon]

Perhaps some Kuhli loaches or cories....fish of a different stratus so they aren't conflicting with each other. As LL said, ya don't have too much space to work with in a 10gal...so it is a bit limited to what you can do. If you are faithful about doing water changes and have good filtration you can push the boundries of how many fish you can put in there. But having more fish is not always a good thing because you have to think about the stress levels of the other fish. So its a toss up. Maybe get a different type of tiger barb to spice things up. Like the albino or green tiger barb. They are the same fish just a different color variety. HTH!!

 

[Yenko]

I'd get cherry barbs or gold barbs to go with tiger barbs. You could also get a small apistogramma (only one).

 

[Sorrell]

I really like kuhli loaches, but the tank just has regular gravel. Don't kuhlis prefer a softer substrate? Maybe I'll just add more tigers. How many can I put without overstocking?

 

[modernhamlet]

With it only being a 10 gallon, you're probably best off having it be a species tank. The tiger barb's dendency for fin-nipping has already been pointed out, and is compounded in tight quarters. I think 6-8 of them would be very happy if you were to give them a small piece of driftwood and a few plants to hide among.