# Suggestions for Fish with Tiger Barbs



## abridgel (Jan 4, 2010)

Hi All

I have a 110G tank - I put 10 Tiger Barbs in with 1 pleco and 10 Zebra Danios - so far so good but I hear the TB can be an aggressive fish.

Any other suggestions for my tank? Am I close to being fully stocked?

Was thinking of adding a school of Platys and maybe 1 shrimp

Thanks in advance


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

abridgel said:


> Hi All
> 
> I have a 110G tank - I put 10 Tiger Barbs in with 1 pleco and 10 Zebra Danios - so far so good but I hear the TB can be an aggressive fish.
> 
> ...


Sorry for asking but you did cycle the tank first right? Your ammonia and nitrite are zero?

You can have (and likely should) more than ten tiger barbs in that size tank. If you just started the tank and haven't cycled it, you should get some cycled filter media from someone in the forum who lives near you to jump start your tank and protect your fish from harm.

If you don't live near anyone or don't want to do that, seachem "stability" will do about the same thing. But not as well.

Back to the fish--

It sounds like you prefer small to medium schooling type fish, so I would suggest adding another five tiger barbs and another five zebra danios down the road.

Don't get shrimp as the tiger barbs will want to harass and eat them if they get a chance.

In a large tank like you have, if you set it up well and keep the fish happy your tiger barbs won't cause issues. They will not harm the danios, as the danios are faster than them.


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## abridgel (Jan 4, 2010)

I have cycled the tank

I would like to add some different species not just more Barbs and Danios

Any suggestions?


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

Platy fish would work in a tank that size, but remember that if you purchase males and females, that you are likely to have more numbers of platy fish. If there are enough hiding spots you will likely see young. 
There are many other types of fish that would be OK in a large tank like this.

I also second the suggestion of adding more tiger barbs. in a tank this large, get a good size group, and aggression will be kept low, as there will be many individuals for larger dominant barbs to chase after. It can help reducing stress and the prevalence of diseases.

try this link. It may help
http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/fwcompatibility_chart.cfm


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## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Any fast swimmers with short fins will do fine with barbs. Actually Denisoni barbs would be beautiful. Some different loaches, like clown, skunk, etc would do ok too.

Tiger Barbs will nip fins of slow swimming fish - even ones which are larger than themselves, and thus stress them out. Especially when they start getting older they become bolder.



abridgel said:


> Hi All
> 
> I have a 110G tank - I put 10 Tiger Barbs in with 1 pleco and 10 Zebra Danios - so far so good but I hear the TB can be an aggressive fish.
> 
> ...


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## GuppiesAndBetta (Jul 27, 2009)

If your tank is 110 gallons, it is severely understocked. You should look into getting some more danios, tiger barbs, bottom dwellers, such as plecos and corydoras, and a centrepiece.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

ksimdjembe said:


> Platy fish would work in a tank that size, but remember that if you purchase males and females, that you are likely to have more numbers of platy fish. If there are enough hiding spots you will likely see young.
> There are many other types of fish that would be OK in a large tank like this.
> 
> I also second the suggestion of adding more tiger barbs. in a tank this large, get a good size group, and aggression will be kept low, as there will be many individuals for larger dominant barbs to chase after. It can help reducing stress and the prevalence of diseases.
> ...


A school of 5-8 small cory's would make it active on the bottom of the tank. I'm loving the Juli cory's I saw at BA's.


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## GuppiesAndBetta (Jul 27, 2009)

AquaNeko said:


> A school of 5-8 small cory's would make it active on the bottom of the tank. I'm loving the Juli cory's I saw at BA's.


CAUTION: Please quarantine before putting in your tank if you are buying from BigAls.


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

Personally I'd quarantine fish from any store I went to...

In my experience with pet stores, I'd say about 1/4 fish being sick can be considered a good batch


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## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

+1 Definitely quarantine anything you get from ANY bigals stores...



GuppiesAndBetta said:


> CAUTION: Please quarantine before putting in your tank if you are buying from BigAls.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

In a 110G with tiger barbs and danios:

Assuming you are filtering at an average level and have an average temperature (lets say 79F) do NOT add clown loaches. They need high oxygen saturation, 84ish ferenheit, and lots of other things.

Many good options have been suggested. 

If I were tasked with filling out that exact tank, with the condition of NO more barbs NO more danios, I'd probably do this:

25 bronze corys

6 serpae tetra

Add eight more zebra danio add 4 more tiger barb.

That's a good tank.


With OUT the restriction of no more barbs, I'd leave the current numbers alone for tiger barb and danio and add:

eight GIANT danio

and

five Denison Barb


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

In my personal opinion, limiting the species in a tank both helps reduce incompatibility issues, and stops the tank from looking too wild and random. The simplicity of 2-3 species in a tank really makes for a nice far away appearance.


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## abridgel (Jan 4, 2010)

I added 

3 clown loaches
4 green tiger barbs
3 Panda Corys

I am thinking about going back and getting a few more pandas

The clown loaches are swimming and interacting with both the Tiger Barbs and Corys


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

so you added 3 corys when you need at least 10 for a tank that size, you picked the most fragile cory, and you got clown loaches who need 85 degrees and extremely high current and a much lower pH than you have but are often sold by stupid LFS staff that don't know any better.


Do yourself a favour, take the pandas and the clowns back. 

Get 15ish bronze corys OR albino corys (they're bronze)

You do not have the setup for clown loaches. Keep the pandas if you must. They are slow growing and less interesting than bronze and much more fragile. But the clowns you do not have the setup, current, low pH, experience, or high temperature or high aeration for. Take them back. 
And remember, fish store employees usually know very little, and could hardly be experts on every possible fish.

Even Harold, who knows more about fish than anyone in southern ontario, knows very little about african cichlids. We all have knowledge gaps.


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## abridgel (Jan 4, 2010)

I don't believe I ever posted my ph here - how are you sure that it is too high?

I have a hanging resevoir that flows back into the tank via two spouts and I also have a bubble curtain paired with a TopFin Air Pump at Full Blast.

I was told my powerhead cycles 5-6 thousand gallons of water per hour.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

abridgel said:


> I don't believe I ever posted my ph here - how are you sure that it is too high?
> 
> I have a hanging resevoir that flows back into the tank via two spouts and I also have a bubble curtain paired with a TopFin Air Pump at Full Blast.
> 
> I was told my powerhead cycles 5-6 thousand gallons of water per hour.


I may stand corrected. If your pH is 7 or less and your temperature is 84 85 with really high surface movement and really strong tank current you may have a good clown loach environment. This would make your zebra danios unhappy but the tiger barbs will be fine.

You will need a group of at least six clown loaches for them to be happy though.

And honestly for someone just getting started, clown loaches are perhaps too fragile a species to go with. Your other choices, with the exception of the panda cories, are excellent. Tiger barbs and zebra danios are both perfect beginner fish and very fun to watch. I honestly would have just done a few more of those and added bronze cories and called it a tank. Remember tiger barbs get very big and fat


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## Cypher (Apr 15, 2006)

Nice. Add about 7 more panda corys... they're much happier in a larger shoal (group) - besides, you have the space for them and they're just awesome little guys.

3 Clown loaches are good enough - they are very social so you dont want to have less than 3. I wouldn't add too many more clowns, imo, when they do get bigger they can become a slight nuisance and occasionally chew plants - not for the nutrient benefit but more a dental thing... lol. OH yeah, now that you have clown loaches, don't ever add any snails to your tank - unless you want them to be a nice snack for the clown loaches. Clowns are fun to watch - they've got personalities and can be quite comical at times. Just note though they do live a lonnnng time and in the aquarium can get to be about 6+ inches. In the wild 12+ inches long.

If you do wish to add more clowns add 2 max. The better thing to do instead is just let your aquarium be for now and add a different type of loach instead of maxing out your aquarium loach quota on clowns alone. That way you can have 3 clown loaches and 3 of another type of loach. Most loaches get along with each other and will also shoal together - do your research first though!



abridgel said:


> I added
> 
> 3 clown loaches
> 4 green tiger barbs
> ...


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