Tiger Barb tankmates

[lexmarkz22]

is there any fish a tiger barb will get along with?? i have a 29g tanks and had 2 tiger barbs after one killed the other fishes. only fish it didn't kill was one of those fish that suck on the tank and rocks and i think is only because it has a hard body. i was told to get 2 more tiger barbs and maybe they wouldn't be so aggresive. guess that was wrong because i bought 2 more and added 10neons along with them and after about 4 days i only have 3 neons left. i beleive it's this one main tiger barb killing them. this morning i woke up to find him eating one and every time the other fish would come near him he would attach them. i've even tried feeding the fish more but that doesn't help either. i've tried seperating him from the other fish but as soon as a let him out of the livenet he chases all the other fish including his own kind.
my tanks:
29g
5 live plants
2 rocks, one cave like

any advice???

[Darkangel]

Trade him in unless you are attatched to him. Tiger barbs should like any schooling fish be kept with 6 or more of there own type. If you want to keep this barb, here is what I would do. Go out and buy 5 or 6 more. Come home and move the new one out of the tank. Use a spare tank or fish bowl if need be, whatever it takes. Add the new fish and let them become established then add the troublemaker back. I bet you see a huge difference in that fish. I really doubt that he is responsible for the neons deaths. They are a fairly delicate fish most of the time. I have not found tiger barbs to be that bad but all fish have different personalities and some may just not be able to cohabitate in the home aquarium.

[lexmarkz22]

i've tried seperating him when i first placed the other tiger barb in the tank. because as soon as i released the new one from the bag he went after him and i was told the fish needed time to adjust to new water. and another reason i believe it's the tiger barb killing the neons is because if i set and watch the tank the tiger barb will dart at the 3 neons trying to get them. i think the new fish tried to take up for itself because they where touching their lips going in circles. not sure if they where trying to show who is dominate or what. needless to say the new fish lost and stays hidden behind the filter tube.

[Darkangel]

Yes but where you put him he can not only see but feel and smell all that is going on around him. If he is really that big of a problem just get rid of him.

[lexmarkz22]

the aggresive one is the medium one in size. but i will try to put him in a bowl a few days and buy one more tiger barb. i don't want to overfill my tank with just that one type of fish. if that doesn't help i will just leave him in a small fish bowl for his life. guess that would be better than killing him.

[JohnMemorialHS]

Yup, like we've said for a long time, tiger barbs likes to be in a school, they like it so much when they're not in a big enough school they start picking at other fish. Get at least 7 or 8 of them, and watch them play tag.

[Pootspete]

Hi Lex,

I know my Tiger Barbs had no problems sharing a 20 gallon tall with Zebra Danios. The Zebra's are fast enough to get out of the way of the Tiger Barb's nipping!

[Slappy*McFish]

Try putting a Redtail Shark in with them...make sure he is grown though, and young shark would get pounded, but a mature one would keep the barbs in check.

[Cichlid Woman]

I don't keep any kind of barb for just the reasons you mention. The suggestion about isolating him until you get a large group of them in there (five or six, as stated) might work, though. Adding just one more won't fix your situation, because he can still go for dominance unless there are a lot of them.

-- Pat

[goldfries]

i've had no problems putting them with swordtails and gouramis and some guppies.

get more tiger barbs, at least 6. they have a hierarchy of command i.e. a pecking order.

put more so they don't harass the rest.

[Twilight]

I've had tiger barbs with many types of fish.....they only bothered each other. point is that you have to have a school of them.

[NJ Devils Fan]

Thats odd because I have neons in my tank with a tiger barb and it leaves them alone.

[goldfries]

well having a bunch of tiger barbs is nice. they'll be so busy with each other they'd ignore the rest of the fish.

[firetank]

i have 6 green tigers in a 29g, and they are fi8ne with the other inhabitants....

one was quite aggresive when they were the only inhabitants, but then i added 2 african butterfly cichlid, and this seemed to make them school more, they are fine

:)

[ctaylor]

Yup, they whole big secret is keeping a school. Cool secret huh? I got 6 and have kept them with several other kind of fish, but none that didn't have at least some attitude though. Redtail/Rainbow sharks do a good job of putting them in their place. And why would you keep neons with barbs? Would you keep barbs with Oscars? Barbs are on the low end of aggression when compaired with many other fish and I think their aggression is over rated. Just be smart about their needs (school) and tank mates.

Chris

[goldfries]

in theory barbs could escape oscars, but i don't know how my oscars got to them............after 1 - 2 months of planning of course. ;)

[k54x4guy_2007]

omg if you have that big of problem keep them 6 or more like everyone is saying, i have 6 tigers with 4 small blushing banana barbs, and when i put them into the tanke all the tigers went right to them to like not really nip but taste rather, and got 1 nip in and then now there shoaling together there all happy, if you have a problem with 1 tiger barb take him back, and get another, trust me, you'll get over it