Grouchy
Fish Fanatic
My fish:
about 18 tiger barbs; most about an inch in size, a couple smaller, a couple larger
one pearl gourami
two albino corys
two bronze corys
three platys
three plecos (3", 3", 1")
Right now I have a 29 gallon high tank and a 10 gallon tank. Soon, I will be upgrading to a 50 gallon tank with a 29 gallon long talk. Barbs rules the 29 gallon tank while two plecos and albinos coexist.
I wanted to move the gouramis to the barb tank. When I did, the barbs mostly ignored the gouramis with the exception of one then two rogue barbs that patiently stalked the gouramis then attacked it's fins from behind. This led to the other barbs starting to think "hey that looks fun" which led to removal of the gourami to the 10 gallon tanks (where it dominates the platys).
I would really like to get the gourami with the barbs. Every book I've picked up states that these fish have the same water preferences, same environment (southeast Asia back water) and should coexist. Knowing tiger barbs, I figured the "feelers" on gouramis would probably be tempting targets for impish barbs. As stated above, it was really only two younger barbs out of the large shoal that attacked other fish (I tried the platys once, too - same result).
For the future I was considering creating an southeast asia backwater environment in the 29-long (lots of wide open space for barb frolicing). First, I would get the pearl gourami a mate and let them establish themselves in the 29-long. Second, I would introduce tiger barbs in groups of six to eight so they have to reestablish their pecking order and might not bully fish that are already there. If there are problem barbs, remove them and either store them in another tank or donate them back to the LFS.
I guess after this long winded description my questions would be:
1. does anybody have this situation? tiger barbs with gouramis
2. does my plan to integrate sound reasonable?
(btw: the 50 gallon tank will be angel fish with various tetras, corys, and the platys)
about 18 tiger barbs; most about an inch in size, a couple smaller, a couple larger
one pearl gourami
two albino corys
two bronze corys
three platys
three plecos (3", 3", 1")
Right now I have a 29 gallon high tank and a 10 gallon tank. Soon, I will be upgrading to a 50 gallon tank with a 29 gallon long talk. Barbs rules the 29 gallon tank while two plecos and albinos coexist.
I wanted to move the gouramis to the barb tank. When I did, the barbs mostly ignored the gouramis with the exception of one then two rogue barbs that patiently stalked the gouramis then attacked it's fins from behind. This led to the other barbs starting to think "hey that looks fun" which led to removal of the gourami to the 10 gallon tanks (where it dominates the platys).
I would really like to get the gourami with the barbs. Every book I've picked up states that these fish have the same water preferences, same environment (southeast Asia back water) and should coexist. Knowing tiger barbs, I figured the "feelers" on gouramis would probably be tempting targets for impish barbs. As stated above, it was really only two younger barbs out of the large shoal that attacked other fish (I tried the platys once, too - same result).
For the future I was considering creating an southeast asia backwater environment in the 29-long (lots of wide open space for barb frolicing). First, I would get the pearl gourami a mate and let them establish themselves in the 29-long. Second, I would introduce tiger barbs in groups of six to eight so they have to reestablish their pecking order and might not bully fish that are already there. If there are problem barbs, remove them and either store them in another tank or donate them back to the LFS.
I guess after this long winded description my questions would be:
1. does anybody have this situation? tiger barbs with gouramis
2. does my plan to integrate sound reasonable?
(btw: the 50 gallon tank will be angel fish with various tetras, corys, and the platys)
