Tiger Barbs

[severina]

I have a 55 gallon tank, and I've got some other fish in there now, but eventually I would like a school of 10 tiger barbs, and then a small group (3-4) of another type of fish. I was thinking about blue and gold gouramis (3 spots.) Will the tiger barbs get too nippy with them? I know they shouldn't be with long finned fish but gouramis aren't really long finned, and they'd be larger than the barbs. But I've definately getting the barbs. If anyone has any advice or other fish recomendations (in place of the gouramis), I'd love to hear it.

 

[The-Wolf]

TBs are a great community fish if kept in the correct conditions
your plan is perfect for them (nice big tank, nice big school)

the only fish I'd avoid in your situation is bettas.

 

[severina]

Alright! I was really hoping someone would say yes...because I loooove 3 spots and have wanted them almost as long as I've wanted tiger barbs

 

[millym]

hi
if you have a look at my signature you'll see what we've kept with tbs for nearly 4 years with no probs. you will have a good sized group of tbs so im sure they'll be too busy annoying each other to bother with anything else ( except i wouldnt go for a betta in there either!)
theyre great fish id LOVE to have room for a group of 10!

 

[SiriusStarr]

No bettas, no guppies, probably no angels... but the gouramis should be good, your tank is big enough... Tiger's arebeautiful in a big school ^^

 

[phlawed]

A rainbow shark or Red Tail Shark would be great as well. My rainbow was always good at keeping the barbs in check if they wanted to try and be nippy. They only nipped him once haha he chased the all around until all of them were tired.

Also, if you ever get ghost shrimp, get large ones. I have seen barbs eat whole ghost shrimp more than once lol.

 

[Araxen]

I added some polka dot loaches in with my 6 tiger barbs and they have worked beautifully with them. It's kind of funny when I was worried because the tiger barbs tried to bully them but they fought back.

Now the polka dot loaches chase them around from time to time. They won't put up with their shenanigans. The loaches won't kill them as the tigers are just too fast of swimmers for the loaches, but it's funny seeing the Tiger Barbs getting bullied once in awhile.

 

[severina]

[edit: nevermind]

PS: Thanks for all the replies everyone! I feel alot better about my decision now

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

I added some polka dot loaches in with my 6 tiger barbs and they have worked beautifully with them. It's kind of funny when I was worried because the tiger barbs tried to bully them but they fought back.

Now the polka dot loaches chase them around from time to time. They won't put up with their shenanigans. The loaches won't kill them as the tigers are just too fast of swimmers for the loaches, but it's funny seeing the Tiger Barbs getting bullied once in awhile.

I experienced the same thing when I put my Yo-Yo loaches in my tank. I first had a few small Pictus Cats but the poor things got harrassed to death by the Tigers, so I was worried about the loaches also at first. But within the first 5 minutes the loaches were chasing the Tiger Barbs around, its hilarious.

Today one of the loaches got brave and tried to mess with the Severum, but he got put in check real quick.

Tiger Barbs and loaches definitely make for an entertaining tank.

 

[severina]

Last Sunday I was running around with my mother and saw a Petco so I told her that we MUST stop and look at the fish. They had the most awesome selection of fish and everything was so clean and the fish were thriving, I was shocked! I came to the tiger barb tanks and they were only $1.59 each and soo tiny and cute. The albinos were $2.49 and also super cute and small. They also had green tigers for $4.something, I nearly died. I was suckered into getting a petco card and left shortly after.

Today I went back and discovered that the albinos were on sale with my petco card for 99 cents! So I had to buy get my barbs then, no question. I got 4 tigers, 4 albinos, and 1 little green one because the rest had been sold except for that one and a full grown one which I don't want in my tank.

I felt kinda nervous about buying them all at once, because of the bio-overload, but they are small, all under an inch, and it is a pretty big tank. I also didn't want to just put in a few at a time because then they would be attacking everything. So I think I did the right thing.

I also wanted to add that their gouramis looked fabulous! Even the females had LOTS of color. I wonder if its a new breeding thing. They had opalines, golds, and blues. All For $2.something. I will definately be buying them up in a few weeks

So anyone who's looking for fish in the Houston area go to the Petco on Spencer and Burke in Pasadena. I know I sound like an ad but I was very impressed with their large selection and the quality of the fish.

 

[lljdma06]

I thought I'd drop in and say congratulations on your tiger barb purchase. Just to let you know since you're leaning towards Trichogaster trichopterus (golden, opalines, blues, are all this species), make sure you have only 1 male, no matter the color variety, with a nice-sized harem of females, say like 4-5. Or, and possibly better, a whole group of just females. T. trichopterus can be a belligerant fish and males will duke it out. LFS will tell you a trio and that you can have multiple males in a tank your size, but that combination is not so great. They also become territorial when breeding, so that is why I recommended a female-only group. IMO, however, they may be just right for a large school of tiger barbs and your tank will never lack action, that is for certain. A nice semi-agressive community tank. Watch your tiger barbs in feeding time, they can be voracious and tend to over-stuff themselves. I trained mine, way back in the day, to feed from my hand. That was quite a while ago. Great little fish, I look forward to keeping them again in a nice 36g species tank.

llj