What can be kept with Tiger Barbs in 70g?

Blue gouramis and gold gouramis are the same species and you want to make sure you don't have 2 males if you want to have three of them. They are very sturdy, but the ventral fins ("feelers") might be too tempting for the barbs. The red-tailed shark would probably be OK; you definitely only want one as they are very aggressive to their own species. The bushy-nose pleco is one of the smaller types, so it should be OK. Red claw crabs aren't totally aquatic and they are highly specialized feeders. They will die. If you want a crustacean, a blue lobster might work (not sure if the pleco would be a problem with the lobster) They can go after fish sometimes, but the barbs are very fast and don't hang out on the bottom.

In lieu of the gouramis, you might consider giant danios, roseline sharks (denisoni barbs), or some of the larger tetras (such as red-eye Moenkhausia/glass tetras). I thought about silver dollars or bala sharks, but they get too big. You might consider a rugged type of killifish, Aplochelius lineatus. They're readily available currently as "Golden Wonder Killies". They are very sturdy, get to a good size and hang out at the water's surface. Again, you'd probably want one male and two females, although in a 70 gallon, you might be able to keep 2 trios.
 
So if I want an aquarium with different species I really need to think twice about selling my Barbs back to my LFS don't I?
 
You will be limited if you keep the barbs. However (as my signature shows) a large school of barbs can be very cool. You definitely see different behavior with the larger school. Good luck with your decision.
 
We actually have a tank with 8 tiger barbs, a fancy guppy, and 5 platies. We haven't had any problems at all. From everything I've read, been told, etc...the larger school of tiger barbs you have, the better. They will "pick" on each other instead of other fish. I love these guys! They're so fun to watch and the do a great job cleaning up the plants for us in our tank LOL...
 
I've had barbs without problems

I agree with some of the other posts about very large groups of barbs, however from personal experience with these awesome fish, I can say that even in a group as small as 5 they were quite happy. They would just chase each other around the tank and keep to themselves.

When choosing other species its important to choose a fast swimming species if smaller than the barbs (tetras, danios!) and NO NO NO long finned species as they wont have fins anymore if you combine them.

Loaches are great for bottom feeding because they'll get bigger than the barbs and mine never seemed to venture near the bottom of the tank. Also Otto Affinis (my new algae wonder fish) are great because the barbs couldnt be bothered with them and they are cute little guys.
 
FaFaFooey said:
How about if I was to add 3 Blue Gouramis, 1 Gold Gourami, 1 Bushy Nose Pleco, 2 Red Claw Crabs, and 1 red Tail Shark. Would that all work together?

NO they wont.

As said, a large school of tiger barb will be beautiful, because tiger barbs group very well.

But if you have your heart set on different fishes, the following are compatiable(get 6+ per group): rainbow fish(many different colors), neon rosy barbs(nice red color), golden white clouds, rasboras, golden barbs, SAE(can be single). For bottom dwellers, most of the armored cory cats are ok.
 
If I had a 70 gallon aquarium with tiger barbs and I was looking for tankmates, I would add the following...

More tiger barbs to bring the group up to at least 15
6 yoyo loaches
1 redtail shark

That would be a nice tank in my eyes, and it would stick with the asian theme.
 
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