Readers Respond: Have you kept a Tiger Barb?

Responses: 56

By Shirlie Sharpe, About.com Guide

I have a 35 Gal tank I started off with 2 Barbs 3 Siliver Dollars, 4 Guppies with very pretty tails and Mollies that have had lots of babies. I noticed my male Mollies and Barbs were the only fish that died in the tank. Buit I would keep replacing them when they died. Then one day I was sitting watching the tank and the one Barb was very aggressive to the other Millies and Guppies this perticular Barb ended up killing the other two Barbs and the tail of one of the Guppies which was so beautiful is allmost completely gone. I asked with I purchased the Barbs if they were agressive and was told no. I know better now. I was wondering will the tail grow back on the Guppie? I have decided not to try Barbs any more they are too agressive.
—Guest Etta

I have five tiger barbs. This morning one of my barbs was attacked by my bichir. She lost half of her tail but is still able to swim around. I have noticed that one of my other barbs has been swimming around with her touching her with his body and protecting her from the other fish. I'm wondering if he's trying to breed with her. I also noticed hundreds of jelly looking thing stuck to the side of the tank. Wondering if they are eggs or young fry? If anyone knows can they please email me and let me know. thanks.
—Guest alishia

These were my first fish (besides a Betta fish) that I ever kept! I'm appalled now thinking back at how much I didn't know, and how many diseases my mismanaged barbs contracted. They are very hardy though. Of my 5 original fish, I had one survivor who survived a bad case of fin rot and popeye. He lived for at least two more years with hardly any remaining fins and one eyeball. My roommates begged me to get rid of my handicapped tiger barb because it creeped them out, but he was a champion.
—Guest Ayl

After many years of fish keeping I finally decided to try tiger barbs. I have only three with three black ruby barbs in a heavily planted 90-gallon tank. The other inhabitants are three Siamese (not Chinese) algae eaters and two otocinclus. All get along without any problems and I am very pleased with the setup. I will probably add a few more barbs of both species and leave it at that. I like heavily planted, lightly stocked tanks.
—Guest Doodleman

I have kept Tiger Barbs for a long time and have found that if you keep them in schools of three or four they are manageable. Once in awhile they will nip the fins of other fish so you do have to watch. Keep them with the same size fish .
—Guest anthony iacobacci

I made a mistake and didn't do my research before purchasing the fish. I finally got my water to the perfect everything and I picked the first fish I found. I have a 5 gallon tank and so far I have two barbs. That is it so far - They are my starter fish. I am worried since I've read other post about them being agressive if I wanted to get other fish.
—Guest Britan

I have 6 tiger barbs in a community tank with 4 gourami's, 3 angels and 2 swords. The tigers have never attempted to nip as if kept in a school of 6 or more (sometimes lucky with less) then their quarreling is kept amongst themselves. Recently I did lose the 2 smaller tigers however through what I can only put down to natural selection but I never did find any remains - just had to grin and bear it - I suppose you can beat you fish having live food anyway -just brought another 2 of same/slightly larger size to the remaining 4 to keep the shoal together as they had start to split. Everything went straight back to normal and that was 2 months ago now.
—Guest Matt

Hey, i just got two barbs with a 2.5 gal tank and i was wandering if it would be good to put 1-3 more in there.
—Guest Travis

I have 2 barbs and I had a goldfish and another spotted something, can't remember. But the spotted one died first he stopped eating and was stuck in a corner. The next day we found him head first in the tank and earlier this day our goldfish died. He lay on the bottom of the tank trying to eat, but couldn't. He later died. i read some of the other articles and wondered did my barbs kill my other two fish??
—Guest hello

Well I learned that you want to buy a lot of barbs because they school together. I have a 15 gallon and have 2 large barbs 3 baby's, all tiger and 1 albino barb, and they are always together.
—Guest kieranraines

These gave me no problem. I have 4 tiger barbs and 2 common goldfish and they love each other. Waitin for babies, so excited.
—Guest

If you want a interesting fish this fish is yours. But do not mix them with different species! It is also a very easy fish to keep.
—Guest mitch

I had bought 5 tiger bars for my 37 gallon tank to start off, after looking up the tank preferences for the fish thinking I would have many eventually, I set the PH to about 7.0, soft water with plenty of swimming room and plants in the corners sides and back of the tank. What I wasn't told is that the pet store I got them kept their PH at 8.2 so unknowingly killed my first batch. So make sure u find out what the store PH is as not to kill them by not first acclimating them to the changed PH. Now I have 5 more and with the PH changes to my tank they are doing quite well so far, but it has only been 3 days. We'll have to wait and see if it works out. I hope it does, they are quite beautiful and entertaining to watch.
—Guest Freas

Common for most posters here, are the LOW number of fish they keep together. Fish that in the wild live in shoals, should also be kept that way in the tank. NEVER buy any less than 10, more preferably! If you cannot keep 10 or more in your tank, then don't buy them! Care properly for the fish, and you will enjoy them more. Barbs kept in large enough numbers, never bother other fish.
—Guest Taliesin

Tiger Barbs are best kept with other Barbs only, they then take on a different and less agressive behavior
—Guest nicholas (aquatics manager)

Shirlie Sharpe
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