Barb Compatibility

[Neptunius]

A little over a year ago I added a school of golden barbs to my 40-long tank which already had a school of black phantom tetras, some spotted cories and a Bolivian Ram. My LFS guy told me the golden barbs wouldn't grow beyond two inches. Well...a few of them now look like little tunas, as one of my housemates says. They're closer to three inches and possibly still growing. All my water parameters have been stable for years, but the tank is looking a bit crowded and I'm thinking of giving into my MTS and setting up a second tank for the golden barbs. Three questions....
1. Do golden barbs school well with other barbs? I'm thinking that cherry barbs are a given since I think they're variations of the same, but I was wondering what about tiger barbs?
2. With 40-long being the max possible size, what would be a good footprint of a tank for a school of 9-10 golden barbs and a similar size school of another barb variety?
3. Any other suggestions of fish that may be compatible?

 

[Tifftastic]

Most species will only school with conspecifics, but that is not to say that they won't get along with other species. I wouldn't do tiger barbs unless you want a school of 11 or more, they're really nippy in anything smaller than that. If you want larger barbs I would suggest rosy barbs, or checker barbs, cherries would be fine too. There are others, but those are my personal faves. I love the dimensions of 40 breeders, so would suggest that. Many other tetras and barbs of similar size will be good tank mates along with corydoras, and kuhli loaches and many others. If you go with a 40 breeder you will actually have a lot of options.

 

[tanker]

I use to have Golden Barbs in my 120gal. I really love them, but my barbs grew to over 4" long. People say that they do not grow that big, but my Golden Barbs did.
Like what Tiff said, Barbs will school with their own species (usually).
Another great barb that I like is the Snakeskin Barb. It is one of my favorite. Beautiful and peaceful. I use to have over a dozen for years. With old age, I only have about 5-6 left.