Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu (Ashwin Ram) (02/26/88)
I like tiger barbs a lot, but I've heard contradictory stories about them. Some
say that they are very aggressive, that a small school will harrass other fish
in an aquarium and even kill them. Others say that their reputation as
fin-nippers is undeserved, that they make perfectly good community fish. Yet
others say that they are aggressive out of sheer boredom if they don't have
plenty of company, but they are fine if you keep them in a large enough school.
I couldn't get a definite answer for this; I tried several books and aquarium
store owners, but they each had a different story which never seemed to agree
with anyone else. Does anyone have first hand experience with these fish? Do
you foresee any problems keeping, say, 5 tiger barbs in a 10-gallon tank with
angelfish or other usual community fish? Do they need a larger tank? Should I
keep more barbs, or less barbs? Or should I give up the idea altogether?
-- Ashwin.
ARPA: Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu
UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,harvard,cmcl2,...}!yale!Ram-Ashwin
BITNET: Ram@yalecsandre@nrc-ut.UUCP (Andre' Hut) (02/27/88)
In article <23908@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu (Ashwin Ram) writes: > >I like tiger barbs a lot, but I've heard contradictory stories about them. I have owned Tiger barbs for years. I have noticed that their behavior depends on their age. The young ones ( < 1 year old ) are much more aggressive and like to chase and nip fins. Older ones seem to mellow out and are perfectly good community fish. They are also better in a group. They tend to chase each other. Helps to keep them well fed too. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- sdcsvax-\ ihnp4-\ \ \ Andre' Hut sdcrdcf!psivax!nrcvax!nrc-ut!andre / / / hplabs--/ ucbvax!calma-/ / utah-gr!uplherc/ Network Research Corporation 923 Executive Park Dr. Suite C Salt Lake City, Utah 84117 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
bonnie@artemis (03/01/88)
In article <420@amanpt1.zone1.com> mrr@amanpt1.zone1.com (Mark Rinfret) writes: > >My experience with tiger barbs was enough to convince me that I'll probably >never purchase them again. They are definitely fin-snippers and worse. I >only had ONE in a 20 gallon tank (lots of plants and rocks, too) and it did >major damage to the rest of the population. After he destroyed (read killed) >one of my kissing gouramis, he went down the toilet. Tiger Barbs are school fish and having only one would make it extremely aggressive. When I had my aquarium, I had six and they were aggressive toward the pair of Brazilian catfish. When I increased the number of tiger barbs to about 10, they travelled in the school and were substantially happier (you will be able to tell by their color -- the deeper the better ). They also left the other fish alone. (I gave up my aquarium when I moved out west. I'm now getting ready to start one up and plan on buying tiger barbs again.) Bonnie Giagnacova bonnie@artemis.berkeley.edu
andre@nrc-ut.UUCP (Andre' Hut) (03/01/88)
In article <420@amanpt1.zone1.com> mrr@amanpt1.zone1.com (Mark Rinfret) writes: >My experience with tiger barbs was enough to convince me that I'll probably >never purchase them again. They are definitely fin-snippers and worse. I >only had ONE in a 20 gallon tank (lots of plants and rocks, too) and it did >major damage to the rest of the population. After he destroyed (read killed) >one of my kissing gouramis, he went down the toilet. > >Mark One-tiger-barb is usually a bad idea. They get bored, and nipping fins is so much fun! You might have had one with a bad personality. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- sdcsvax-\ ihnp4-\ \ \ Andre' Hut sdcrdcf!psivax!nrcvax!nrc-ut!andre / / / hplabs--/ ucbvax!calma-/ / utah-gr!uplherc/ Network Research Corporation 923 Executive Park Dr. Suite C Salt Lake City, Utah 84117 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
stan@shell.com (Stan Hanks) (03/08/88)
Tiger barbs are pretty OK if you keep them in the right environment.
I have a dozen or so in a 75 gal. that has mainly large African
cichlids. No problem with fin nipping -- they're too busy staying
alive....
Stan Hanks
Postmaster
Shell Development Company, Bellaire Research Center (713) 663-2385
..!{sun,psuvax,soma,rice,ut-sally,ihnp4}!shell!stan stan@rice.{edu,arpa}stewartw@neptune.UUCP (Stewart Winter ) (03/10/88)
In article <23908@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu (Ashwin Ram) writes: > >I like tiger barbs a lot, but I've heard contradictory stories about them. Some >say that they are very aggressive, that a small school will harrass other fish >in an aquarium and even kill them. Others say that their reputation as >fin-nippers is undeserved, that they make perfectly good community fish. Yet >others say that they are aggressive out of sheer boredom if they don't have >plenty of company, but they are fine if you keep them in a large enough school. > > My wife bought some baby tiger barbs. For the most part they played together, but as they got older they started to bother the other fish more. It still wasn't too bad until some of them started to die off, then they started to attack other fish. They eventually killed off an angel fish. Also, one fish in particular was a bully. In summary, I think young tiger barbs are ok, but be prepared to flush them when they get older, unless you have a tank of very active fish. By the way other kinds of barbs (like cherry barbs) are not as aggressive. >-- Ashwin. > >ARPA: Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu >UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,harvard,cmcl2,...}!yale!Ram-Ashwin >BITNET: Ram@yalecs Stewart ----------------- ------------------ Stewart Winter Cognos Incorporated P.O. Box 9707 VOICE: (613) 738-1440 FAX: (613) 738-0002 3755 Riverside Dr. UUCP: uunet!cognos!neptune!stewartw Ottawa, Ontario