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You could try kerry or emperor tetras, both pretty and active fish but no agression that I have seen.
Claire.

see, I had a school of 11 in a 46 gallon planted tank... and they were all quite small, not nearly full grown. My tank wasnt NEARLY overstocked. They were all fine for a while, until one started getting bigger than the others, then he would chase and chase, ALL the time, not just feeding time and single out the smallest, which would get weak from not eating. Then the school would shun the smallest one until he died... then there would be a new smallest and the process would repeat.

They're very pretty fish, but like I said, I dont have the time to monitor the aggression and care for each individual singled out fish. I think it'd be better to have a group where I don't need to worry about them killing or pestering eachother, which is why I think a nice school of rasboras in a planted tank would be great.

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Back in the saddle!

I must have mutant tiger barbs or something, from all the horror stories I hear about tigers. Mine all get along great, I have 3 males and 2 females. They are probably my most docile fish (I also have 2 6-inch plecostomus, 4 buenos aires tetra, 4 blind cave fish ... all in a 75 gallon tank). My tiger barbs are not aggressive at feeding time, they casually eat off the bottom while the tetras hog the top food. Maybe my tigers are so docile because my tank is very understocked and all the fish have so much room, so there is no clashing of space.

My tiger barbs are fine with each other, but the main thing is to keep them from other fish. Even if they don't bug the other fish, they are just too aggressisive at feeding time. I mean, they even bottom feed, so good luck getting your cories fat. Plus they can swim around and eat food as it drops, so nothing hits the bottom. I give flakes, and 4 types of sinking food, and my cories barely get a meal most days.

I suggest tiger barbs!!

I would suggest Danios. They are schooling fish, move around quite a bit and grow to a max of 3 inches. I have had some very bad experiences with barbs and wouldnt keep anything with the B word in its name. I know some folks have had good experiences, unfortunately, I had some veil tail angels with barbs and guess what... The angel's veils were way too inviting for the nippy barbs to resist.

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my harlequin rasboras are the tightest schoolers I've had, much tighter than my cardinal tetras, but I have heard that rummynose are A+ schoolers as well

well, thanks for the suggestions everyone - sound slike the gold barbs are going to grow quite a bit larger than i was looking for, so i think i'm going to plan on building up a fairly large school of either h. rasboras or glowlight or rummy noses. i'm really just looking for a type of fish that i can have a fairly large school of, and those three types seem to fit the bill pretty well. now i just need to decide between the three of them....

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Back in the saddle!

nowherman6:

Sorry to read that you've given up on the barbs. Yes, they do squabble amongst themselves. That is their general nature. Rather than decreasing, increasing to the size of the school may have helped. Over time, they would have developed their pecking order within the tank and things would probably calm down.
So, you are asking for alternatives....
I've kept Cherry Barbs and have found them, as you have read, shy. They don't school well. At least, not the specimens I had.
The typical golden barb you will find for sale attains a length of around 3-4 inches. The specimens I had did not school. They were glutonous feeders. One would think they'd not eaten in weeks.
A nice schooling fish is the Bloodfin. It's not a super-colorful fish, but it is always moving, schools well, and is a peaceful fish. It's also inespensive and relatively hardy.
I've found glowlights hardier than commercial-bred neons. They school well, are peaceful. But like neons, really don't move around much.
A nice 2.5-inch active peaceful fish is the diamond tetra.
I'd suggest you read up on various species which may interest you and visit shops to observe their behaviour. Eventually, you'll come across something you like.
-Wayne

ok, so in my research i've noticed the following: it seems that there are two different species that go by the name "gold barb" - Puntius (or Barbus) gelius and Barbus schuberti. The former seems to grow to only about 2 inches, while the latter reaches 4... what is the difference here, and which species have you all been referring to?

also, a question about cherry barbs - some articles have said that they are shy and not only do not NEED to be in school, but that they're better off not in schools or in pairs, as Theresa_M has suggested. others have said that they are a schooling fish and do better in groups... any explanation or experiences? thanks everyone sorry for the repeated questions... im just having trouble deciding on what kind of large school to build up, and how big it could be for each species

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Back in the saddle!

ok so i realize im probably going to take some flack for this, but i'm giving up on my tiger barbs. trying to control their aggression/ nippiness has become too much to deal with. i had one that abused the others, removed him, leaving a small school that always seems to be having it's own internal disputes, and im tired of trying to solve agression problems, so ive decided to take the school back to the LFS.

just as a preemptive response to anyone with the inclination to scold me for giving up on my adopted pets, i'd just like to say i really did try my hardest with these fish, and tried to protect the smallest ones from the biggest. it's just become something i cant monitor as much as i should (working 9-10 hrs per day) to protect the fish, so i figure this is the best thing i can do. i thought about just bringing the biggest one back, but no one would take (or buy for that matter) a single tiger barb, that just seemed cruel. i hope you all understand.

in any case, that leaves me with a 46 gallon tank with 4 yo-yo loaches and a BN. i was thinking of eventually adding a school of harlequin rasboras, maybe 10-12 of them as they dont get too large and seem pretty peaceful. any thoughts?

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Back in the saddle!

[font color="#000080"]
I think you should get a school of Gold Barbs.

Why?
Because they have very nice colouring, they grow to a good size and they are peacefull.[/font]

I have a school of eight harlequins, I've never noticed a pecking order with them. They seem to be very peaceful, 'mind-our-own-business' fish'

Cherries have nice color and aren't nippy, they also do well in pairs. My suggestion is still the school of harlequins and a pair of cherries.

Or if you can find them belted barbs would be a good choice, one of my favorite fish Very nice color, good schoolers, not nippy at all.

Keep us posted

Theresa_M attached this image:


Last edited by Theresa_M at 14-Oct-2004 02:08[/font]

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

see, i'm not too big on the "making the tank look full" thing. i'm more of a "centerpiece school with bottom feeders and large ugly-in-an-adorable-way catfish" kind of guy.

someone just said that the h. rasbora's have a pecking order? is that anything like the tiger barb pecking order, because that's exactly what i'm trying to get away from...

i guess i'll start doing my research on gold barbs and rasboras and cherry barbs... are there any other schooling fish that might work... ?

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Back in the saddle!

Get a school of rasboras and a school of rummies, it will make your tank seem full.

Goldbarbs do look good in a planted tank .....they just seem to go with the green so well...I suppose the same can be said about cherry's I just don't have any yet >.<

Depending on how you go with the rest of the stock....and how you're nitrAtes are doing you should be able to go with a few large schools of small fish. 10 or so of the rasboras, 10 or so gold barbs ect....3-4 schools of small fish with the yo-yos and BN....again that depends on the nitrAte consumption due to the plants and only because I'm suggesting small fish. Don't want anyone to get the wrong idea about overstocking a tank .

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

I like the harlequin idea I have a school of 6 and even when there were only 4 of them they schooled much better than my cardinal tetras, they are also interesting to watch and mine have quite the distinct pecking order

thanks for the understanding... some people seem to have calm schools - i got the school from heck

yes babelfish, this is the planted tank - with the FORMER cyno issues (fingers crossed...) and i think a big school of colorful fish would also look lovely, once i further plant my tank. though i think neons/ cardinals are a little too delicate for the boisterous yo-yos. thats why i was thinking rasboras. how many gold barbs would be ok? and i did always liek the look of cherry barbs, i bet pictures dont do them justice...

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Back in the saddle!

Fully understandable. It's not like you didnt' try.

A nice big school of a small fish would be lovely...this is your planted tank right, the one with the cyno issues?

Maybe a nice school of gold barbs (NOT @all nippy) or other in the barb family that doesn't get more than 2" or so.

^_^
*Proud member of the Committee for Sig Line Restoration*

That's certainly understandable, sorry to hear about the bad luck you're have with them.

Harlequins have good color, are peaceful and are good schoolers. You would probably also have room to add a pair of cherry barbs, they're peaceful as well. Or maybe some other small, centerpiece-type of fish.


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There is water at the bottom of the ocean