FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Ok for my 30 gallon I was thinking a large school of tiger barbs, maybe 6 cherry barbs, 4 paradise fish, 4-6 cories, gold nugget pleco, and I was what would be a good centerpiece fish for this tank if there is enough room?

i was told that a gold nugget pleco would grow to large for my 42gal

and i think a shoal of tiger barbs wouldnt work with paradise fish

and i also think that paradises dont like the company of there own kind

further more maybe try some loaches instead of corys to make the tank asian

what id suggest
2 paradise fish
6 cherry barbs
4 small type of loach
1 pearl gourmi
7 glass catfish

ive added glass cats so you could have a school of somthing in there
and ive added a pearl gourmi as a centerpiece fish

Last edited by Alex 4 eva at 17-Nov-2004 00:03

---

''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

That is a good stocking list that you put down. You can put paradise fish in with each other as long as you have a 1 male and the rest female. And the school of tiger barbs should'nt bother anything when they are in a big group of 8-10.

Just because the tiger barbs are in a large group doesn't mean that they won't bother the other fish. A school will lessen the aggression of the barbs, but not necessarily eliminate it outright. Even if the tigers got along with the paradise fish, they would most likely harass the pearl gourami, and the glass cats. The two forementioned species tend to be pretty docile; despite the size of the pearl gourami they are considered rather calm as far as gouramies go. The glass cats tend to be methodical feeders and woudn't be able to compete with the more aggressive tiger barbs. They may even have trouble competing with the faster/assertive cherry barbs.
All points aside, Alex's list is a good one. If it were my tank, I would probably make these modifications:
2- paradise fish
6- small loach species (banded, yo-yo, etc.) or Cory species
10-cherry barbs or 10 harleguin rasboras

The list may seem cut down a lot at first, but the increased number of schoolers will make their grouping tighter and cause them to be more active among the larger and intimidating paradise fish. You can increase the number of paradise fish by one or two as long as they are females, thus giving your male a harem which should keep his aggression down. I also gave you secondary suggestions with the corys and the rasboras. The rasboras would probably school a bit tighter than the cherry barbs and the corys might be a bit easier to get than the smaller loach species. As tempting as it would be to mix it, I strongly suggest doing one type of mid level schooler and one type of bottom level schooler.
You mentioned a gold nugget pleco at the top, which would do okay in the 30 gal until it grew to about a foot long. Maybe an ancistrus species would work out? Although ugly, they are interesting looking fish.
Whatever your decision is, good luck and I hope we were able to help.

Depends. Paradise fish are pretty mean, and could probably keep their own against tigers. I don't know this for a fact, however, as I've never actually kept them (the paradise fish, I mean). However, glasscats and gouramis will do fine with tigers. Not only do they occupy similar habitats, but I've done something similar--- keeping an Asian biotope of sorts with both pearls and moonlights side by side with glassies and tigers. No problems there. I guess the trick is to have a fairly large tank.

My thoughts...

Sometimes a M/F pair of paradise fish works, sometimes it doesn't. I've kept pairs successfully in a 29g but have heard of others having problems with the male being agressive.


Cherry barbs aren't schoolers like other barbs, so you could go with pairs.

Cories or loaches, although my personal vote is for loaches, I just happen to like them better

Maybe a BN plec or a couple otos for algae control. If you don't like BNs there are other plecs that won't get too large for a 30g.

I'm leery of tiger barbs in community tanks, too many posts about them being nippy. Maybe in a larger tank but I'd worry about them in a 30g with other fish. A similar, non-nippy but good-schooling alternative are [link=belted barbs]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/pentbarb.xml" style="COLOR: #FFFFC0[/link]. Otherwise perhaps harlequins or some sort of tetra if you want a school.


~~~~



[/font]

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Ok how about - 10 hariquan rasboras
- 4 paradise fish
- 4 cories
- 2 pearl gouramis
But I really like the Tiger Barbs lol what are my options with them?

yea i myself love tigerbarbs. (although i have no where for a setup at current time) I was gonna have a tigerbarb/pair of kribs/bristlenose setup hopefully in the near future i think that would be a nice tank.

The main problem I see with the glassies is competing for food with the aggressive and faster tigers. In a large tank, food can be dispersed easier and more fairly with less consequence to water quality. However, in a 30 gal which was what he was planning on, I'm not so confident in the glassies abilities to compete for food.

Glass cats are FAST eaters, and can be just as rowdy as the tigers, at least when feeding.

Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 18-Nov-2004 11:15