Tank mates for tiger barbs?

[mislisa]

I'm setting up a new 36 gal tank, and i was wondering about good tank mates for tiger barbs. I currently have 5 barbs, but i will get more if more are needed to keep them calm. I was thinking about getting a ruby shark and a pair of dwarf gouramis, but i'm not sure yet.

[Rbishop]

I'd get more tiger barbs, like two schools of 12. I would stay away from gouramis and angels, or anything that displays long finnage around a tiger barb.

[mislisa]

I don't want just tiger barbs though. i like them, but i want more variety in my tank than that.

[boofish2]

First of all, how CUTE is that avatar?!?!?! :)
Anyhoo, I agree with rbishop, you could mix up the barb species wise and get a few different kinds of barbs. That'd look pretty cool, obviously don't include the long finned types.

[Marinemom]

For barbs, especially tiger barbs, it is best just to stick to barbs. Tiger barbs are pretty feisty fellows and will harass other fish. This holds true more if the school of tiger barbs is not big enough.

Marinemom

[lilshoe2]

I donno, my 4 barbs are doing fine with my gourami, and angles,.......maybe just a fluke but they are all happy in my 55gal......and I plan to ad more barbs to....

so,... I donno go with what they say b/c Im out numbered....lol
-shoe

[Woofy]

my sis has had 6 barbs in her tank for months now. with them she has palties, plecos, a school of glass fish, a glass barb , and a yoyo loach. She has never seen the barbs be aggreesive. It helps to have a large school though.

[H3D]

IMO size of the barb school has less to do with aggression problems than the F/M ratio. The more females you have the less aggressive they will be. My school of 8 live with 10 h. rasboras and do not even notice them. Either way it may not be wise to keep them with gouramis. A nice shoal of chain loaches would be cool.

[jm1212]

get more tiger barbs as the other said, but you can also have some zebra danios to add some activity to the top of your tank. stay away from dwarf gouramis, for they are a bit slow and have fins that will be nipped by the tiger barbs. a RTBS will also not be a very good choice for a tankmate because they grow aggressive towards other fish in the tank, especially ones around the bottom.

[treemaker]

I have 5 barbs in with angels, gouramis, and kribensis in my 55 and everything is great. The key in my opinion is making sure there are enough barbs so that they keep each other occupied. Mine seem to scrap amongst each other, but I see no evidence of fin nipping on my angels or gouramis. If I did, I would be separating them. Everyone's situation is different, but I have to agree that having all barbs would be a it boring and unnecessary.