Tiger Barbs

[Just_Another_One]

Im getting my new tank this week (38G) and I want forsure to have tiger barbs(6-8) and 1 redtail black shark. Both are semi agressive I would say so my stocking will have to be decided around them. They will forsure be housed with harlequins and cory cats as I have them now but since both are quick and dont have long fins hopefully they will be fine...(?)


My question is EVERY time I see the tiger barbs in the LFS tanks they always look so beat up with ripped fins and bite marks all over them. Is it common for them to always look like this in the stores from "playing" with eachother? Or is it just my stores not having good stock?

I know when I get them home they would probably heal but I was wondering if others have noticed them looking REALLY beat up in stores?

 

[CKutz]

I never looked very closely at them, but they never stood out as looking in bad shape. this was at a petsmart. Although I was just there yesterday and they had a tank of very big tiger barbs and there was two in there that were really going at each other..i don't really know how to describe it, they would lock onto each other's mouth...and i dont think they were kissing

they aren't in the biggest tank so maybe they get a little cabin fever haha.
my friend had some though and they were rarely aggressive towards each other. he actually had them with a red tail shark. they all got along pretty well, every now and then the shark would chase them around. but unfortunately he had them in too small of a tank, so that's probably why.

I would think yours would be ok..but if they seem a very inactive or something it might be best to look for them somewhere else. they could be too stressed and unhealthy or something.

 

[rachh004]

First, i have 7 tiger barbs with 2 harliquins and 3 cory cats and they dont bother each other.
Second, try getting the barbs when they are babies so they dont look so beat up. I have never noticed them looking that back. Mine seem to play around with each other but they do not have bight marks on them. But beware they get a lot bigger from when they are babies.

 

[The Village Idiot]

I've never seen tiger barbs all torn up like that. While it's true that they are all-around anuses, they should not be getting beaten up that badly. I would advise you to get them somewhere else.

 

[DanaLeChiffre]

I have 8 Tiger Barbs and 5 Cherry barbs, All of them get on great.

The one male Cherry Barbs dive bombs the group of Tiger Barbs

 

[milkton]

Yeah i do realize that and sometimes i wonder if others realize that too, the petsmart i go to is pretty new and has a buncha fish that are in pretty good condition, some trash dumps like petcetera feed their fish dog poop.