# Tiger Barb Compatibility



## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I like the look of tiger barbs and I want to get some for me home aquarium. Though I am not sure if it will be ok with some of the fish I have. Will the Barbs be agressive twords them. I know that the more Tiger barbs you have together the less likely they are to nip fins of other fish. I'm not planning on having long finned fish such as angels in my tank. So what do you guys reccemend for a good group size to stop fin nippping? Since I want the smallest group of barbs I can get without the fin nipping of other fish. Does the size of the other fish encourage barbs to fin nip?


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

I have tried keeping 8-12 together to avoid nipping but it still wasnt sufficent. What kind of fish do you have and what size tank again?? They are beautiful fish, also they should be kept in a 20-30G+ because they are very active. My tigers were best by themselves or with certain other barbs. They say that green and albinos are less aggressive but I tend to disagree.


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## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

I have a 20 gallon with the following fish that I plan to get that are non-barb.The rest will be filled with tiger barbs and other sorts of barbs.

1 Blue lobster
5 neon tetras

I could always find another beatiful fish if this one is a bit too agressive for my tank.


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## zork (Dec 10, 2005)

i bought a group of eight tiger barbs they left other fish alone but they were terrible to each other personally i wont get them again it was nice to see some fish being bullied i split them up into different tanks in the end


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

Size of tank has a lot to do with aggressiveness of any fish, including tiger barbs. I once had a friend that had a large show tank ( probably 125 - 150 gal ) with nothing in it but tiger barbs. Probably 40 -50 of them. One of best looking tanks I have ever seen.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Tank size is very important (nice point Ron). While you need numbers to curb agression, you also need room. 10 tigers in a 55 works well. ANy smaller you should reduce the numbers which can also cause problems in itself.


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## cheseboy (Aug 5, 2005)

So what would you guys reccemend as a good number of tiger barbs to keep in a tank. Pretty much over 5 is too much. Since I only have officially 5 more inches to stock and I don't want to over stock 20 inches of fish. So I probably can not keep the tiger barb right?


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## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

1" of fish/ gal. is not a good way to pick fish. That would only apply to very small/ thin fish like maybe guppies or neons. Not tiger barbs. I don't know much about your lobster, but not even counting him, I would add a group of 4-5 cory cats or something like that, maybe some sort of center piece fish and nothing else. I tend to think you should choose between the lobster and fish. Not both.


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## micstarz (Oct 22, 2005)

Get a nice looking gourami maybe?


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## garfieldnfish (Jan 18, 2005)

A 20 gal tank is too small for tiger barbs. I had mine in a 29 gal and they fought all the time. Now they are in a 75 gal and all is peaceful. I have 5 of them. It should be an uneven number to lessen aggression (5, 7 etc.) 
Also a blue lobster and neons is a bad idea. Your lobster will take the neons out if he gets the chance while they are sleeping.


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