FishProfiles.com Message Forums

The LFS has some Black Ruby Barbs on sale and I am liking these guys. How many would I need for a minimum? 8? Do these guys get some color when they reach adulthood? The ones on sale are smaller but they had other adults in the tank that looked real colorful. I was planning on buying 8 of the little guys.

Will they get along with harliquin rasboras? I have some of those in my tank right now (3 - plan on bringing the school back up to 8)and what other tank mates would go good.

If I can get around a light situation I plan on planting this tank. See my post in planted forum for more on that.

Don

I have BRB. I started with 9, now I'm down to 6. We love them. They race up and down the tank as if there is no tomorrow! The males have the absolute best color, especially when they want to court the ladies! I would get as many as you can fit, without overcrowding and let the rompus begin! If you can't get alot, I think 6 will still keep them happy and the action going. Anything less, and they will just mill about.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

I got 4 today, and plan on getting at least 4 more. The lfs has them on sale buy 2 get 2 free at $2.99 a piece. I also saw some odessa (sp) barbs there too that I like but I'm not sure there are so many great fish to choose from.

Others I am thinking of are

Honey Groumies (sp)
zebra danios (always a favorite)
cardinals or neons

and all the other assorted barbs and tetras there.

and maybe some mollies

I dunno yet.
I already had 3 harlequin rasboras left from my original group and wanted to bring them back up to 8 too.

and all the other assorted barbs and tetras there.

Be careful with tiger barbs. I know I tend to come down hard on that type of barb, but they really can be mean, and for no real reason other than that they feel like picking on other species.

Yeah no tiger barbs for me! But they have a nice assortment at the lfs. Lemon tetras, glowlight, rummynose ect. and some barbs too.

The Black Rubys are a great choice. They are active, but not as nippy and insane as the TigerBbarbs. The Odessa are spectacular in my opinion... They are a little less active than the Black Ruby Barbs and the males look incredible once they settle in and color up. They seem to be fairly hardy as well. I have mine in a 55g with Silver Tipped Tetras and Tiger Barbs and they all do well together.

In fact, I am going to double my shoal of Odessas from 5 to 12. They will look incredible once they color up!

I have a shoal of Rummynose Tetras in my 20g, they are the best looking of all my fish, you might think about some of those.

I doubled the number of Black Ruby Barbs to 8.

I want to get some odessa's but the lfs is out atm. I am also thinking of getting some neon tetras. The wife wants to get an angelfish or two but, I don't know if they will mix well together.

Don

Most of us will say no to Angels and neon tetras being together. The Angels will eventually (depending on personality) eat the Neons. I had 5 Angels and 6 neons. Only 1 of the 5 went after my neons. But then he was a rogue and went after everything in the tank. I had to sell him back to the LFS.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

Ok my tank is filling up nicely!

I now have:
8 Black Ruby Barbs
11 Neons! (the lfs had em' on sale for $1)
2 Odessa Barbs - I plan on getting a few more of these
1 Chinese alage eater (My wife picked this one up, not sure about him fitting in in the tank though)
2 Harlequin rasboras (I lost one of these last week
not sure if it was due to add more fish after a long time just him and his 2 siblings.

I am still planning on add addition fish. Any suggestions. I kinda wanted to add some livebears to the mix. Guppies and maybe platys or mollies. would these fit in well.

If I were you DonnieBoy, I would build the shoals of Odessa Barbs and Harlequins to at least 8 fish each. Then maybe a shoal of mollies or guppies might be fun as well.

I do know that you definitely want to fill out the shoals of the Odessas and harlies if you want to see their best color and behaviour!

Good luck!

Basically with Barbs, it's the more the merrier.

I've just bought 6 Barbus arulius (and did so with the intention that they'd be there as playmates for my SAEs, and that NO other fish would go in there once the arulius were in), and even my 6 are constantly in each other's company. If I had the space for 12, they'd probably still be all together in a tight shoal, and if I ever do have space to put 12 or more together, I'll do that because I like seeing shoaling fish in big groups, because they come into their own if you build big shoals of them.

Basically, if anyone wants to see how impressive a big shoal of Barbs can look, take any of the popular species - Tigers, Black Rubies, Cherry Barbs, Checker Barbs and the like - and put 20 of them together in a long tank with plants at either end, and a big swimming space in the middle. Watch that shoal go nuts darting from one end of the tank to the other, and watch the fun and games come feeding time, when they'll make the water boil with their frenzied snacking.

For example, fit out a 55 gallon with nice bogwood decorations, Java Moss and Java Ferns growing on the wood, with some nice caves for a group of Botia type loaches to live in, drop in 6 Yoyo Loaches, then 20 Tiger Barbs. When you see what 20 Tiger Barbs look like together, you won't want to see a small shoal of them ever again, and the same goes for most of the other Barbs too.

Oh, and if anyone is looking for a small Barb other than a Cherry Barb, that is practical to build a big shoal with, look out for a rarity known as Barbus gelius. Stays small, nice iridescent gold colour, lots of Barb virtues and hardly any of the vices. Only trouble is, finding them will be a headache, because they're rarer than 100-carat diamonds (at least in my part of the world they are).

As for those Black Rubies, if you have space to keep 16 of them, give that a try. You won't regret it.

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Just an update....

Ok my tank now has the following...

1 rainbow shark - my son wanted him he seems to be doing ok.
4 oddessa barbs - I love these guys. want to get more!
8 black ruby barbs
10 neons
1 lonely harlie
1 chinese algae eater

suggestions?
I would like to get 4 more oddessas but after that I dunno how many more fish I can get... don't want to overcrowd.

How big is the tank? Otherwise we can't say if it's overcrowded or not...

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

it's a 55 gallon

You should be all right with four more odessas. As far as other fish, you look like you'd still have room for bottom feeders and surface feeders.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

I thought about getting some cories but I dunnno then I thought about a few kukli (sp) loaches but I am unsure about bottom feeders. Not to mention the rainbow shark and chinese algae eater that I already have in there.

Don