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any advice/suggestions/comments about keeping regular old tiger barbs( not green or albino or any other kind)?

-a solidary predator, the firetruck stalks its prey

I would not keep them with long finned fish, or with gouramis, as they do have a tendency to be nippy. Also, you should keep them in large numbers in a shoal, at about 5 or more fish. That will prevent over agression. Other than that, there is not much else i can think of that they need in terms of extra care. They are nea fish, and will add a bit of interest to any tank that can adequately house them (20g up).

Good Luck!



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If you want to keep them there are a couple of things you need to be aware of .
Goby has touched on their reputation as fin nippers , I've found that if you keep
them in a group of 12 the nipping pretty much stays within the group and they
ignore other fish . I have Angels and Gourami's and they never bother them .

The other thing you need to be aware of is that the Tiger Barb world is a
tough one . They fight a lot to establish a pecking order and these fights will
lead to deaths . I've had fish with half their tails bitten off etc .Occasionally the
females will kick a male out of the group and this can be deadly for the fish ,
they seem to go into decline and die not long after this happens .

So just a word of caution that they can be a challenge to keep if you get
attached to your pets .
But on the plus side they always come up to me when I go to the tank and they
are a lot of fun to watch .

Garry

I love TB's, my fave fish! I have 3 regular, 2 green, and 2 albino in a nice little shoal in my 20g. They are fun to watch, very active, quite hardy, easy to care for.

They do chase and nip big time, so watch what you put with them, like they were saying about long finned fish, etc. I have mine with 3 dwarf neon rainbowfish and 6 white cloud mountain minnows and they all get along well.

They can tolerate a wide swing of water temps, and they feed very well, probably to well. They seem to me to be the type of fish that would feed themsleves to death if given the opportunity. I love mine!

Enjoy!

They seem to me to be the type of fish that would feed themsleves to death if given the opportunity. I love mine!

LOL, funny that you mention that. THe Tiger Barbs are definately the ones who will eat themselves to death. They are so frenzyful at feeding times, that they will usually absorb a lot of gas, and that could lead to swim bladder or some other disease/disorder, and eventually kill them. Just like dogs, they will eat until they burst!


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