Tiger Barbs And Polkadot Loaches...

[Hollymolly4]

Here's my plan. I have a 28 gallon bowfront and I want to put 6 Tiger Barbs and 3-4 Polkadot Loaches in. Will this work? The tank is a year and a half old and planted. I already have one polkadot loach.

 

[mikev]

Why specifically Tiger Barbs?

There are a lot of other dither species, who are less aggressive. Some people like mixing Tiger Barbs with clown loaches since the stripes somewhat match and they may shoal together, but this reasoning does not apply to Kubs....

 

[Hollymolly4]

Why Tiger Barbs? This is mainly my hobby and my husband has very little input. So when he said he liked Tiger Barbs I thought I'd use them. Are they too agressive to go with the loaches? Is there a problem with them? Or are you just wondering?
I like the TB also. Might try to get a couple green ones, they look pretty cool.

 

[mikev]

I'd consider some quieter Barb species (or another dither, like Danio's or Rasbora's). Tigers are on the aggressive end and are likely to irritate loaches. I keep Odessa Barbs, these are smaller and more peaceful than Tigers, and they undoubtedly irritate loaches...Tigers would have been worse.

Also, 28g is not that large and you need to fit in decent shoals of loaches and dither; going with smaller dither will allow to have a larger shoal of them.
(you want 5+ loaches, this is the standard minimal shoal size for peaceful Botia's, and a larger shoal is even better; Kubs grow very slowly but are likely to reach 3" in time, you can do the gallon/inch math and see that you don't have all that much left for a dither shoal unless you go with slightly smaller species, and there are a plenty of them to chose from.)

(I keep my Kub shoal -- 13 of them -- with 6 Giant Danios. I'm not suggesting this specifically, but it works very nicely, and in tank the size of yours, I'd have used some smaller Danio species or Rasboras.)

 

[Barracuda518]

I have been keeping a school of 6 Tiger Barbs with my Clowns like Mike said and they are together all the time. I think it helps with the aggression because the clowns are so much bigger then the barbs and the barbs think they are big tiger barbs. I havent really thought about them with other loaches.

I'd consider some quieter Barb species (or another dither, like Danio's or Rasbora's). Tigers are on the aggressive end and are likely to irritate loaches. I keep Odessa Barbs, these are smaller and more peaceful than Tigers, and they undoubtedly irritate loaches...Tigers would have been worse.

Also, 28g is not that large and you need to fit in decent shoals of loaches and dither; going with smaller dither will allow to have a larger shoal of them.
(you want 5+ loaches, this is the standard minimal shoal size for peaceful Botia's, and a larger shoal is even better; Kubs grow very slowly but are likely to reach 3" in time, you can do the gallon/inch math and see that you don't have all that much left for a dither shoal unless you go with slightly smaller species, and there are a plenty of them to chose from.)

(I keep my Kub shoal -- 13 of them -- with 6 Giant Danios. I'm not suggesting this specifically, but it works very nicely, and in tank the size of yours, I'd have used some smaller Danio species or Rasboras.)

Mike,

What size is your Kub tank?

 

[mikev]

65g, Kubs range from about 2" (most) to a pretty gravid female Alpha.

On sizes in a loach/barb combinations: I have small clowns shoaling with Odessa's now, and Odessa's seem to be treating them as barbs too. But since the loaches are smaller than the barbs, this means the barbs are chasing them the way they would chase each other.

Oh, btw, I finally got some cories.

 

[Hollymolly4]

I think I'll just get 8 Tiger Barbs and leave the loach I already have in the tank. See how he does. He's been the lone loach in the tank for a few months now and doing fine. Nippy at the platties but I'm thinking the TB's will keep him in his place.
Thanks for the replies all!