What can be kept with Tiger Barbs in 70g?

FaFaFooey

FaFaFooey

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Aug 27, 2006
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San Diego
I've been told I should get rid of them if I want a community tank but they're my first fish and I don't want to cycle my tank and just throw them out. I've really become quite attached to them. I do know I want some bottom feeders, some colorful fish, maybe some snails or maybe some other misc animal in the tank. Any ideas on what I could put in the tank? I've got quite a few pieces of driftwood, one large piece of wood with different caves and holes, and quite a few fake plants at the moment.
 
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Get a big ol' school of tiger barbs, in any of the color morphs, and then you can get a few bottom dwellers like loachs or larger corys. Large snails (like cana snails) should be fine. You could maybe get some kind of chiclid that could stand up to them and be happy in that tank, but most of the typical peacefull community fish shouldn't go in with barbs. That means no gouramis, no bettas, no Angelfish, and in general nothing with long fins. You could get an American Flag fish--they are larger and have attitude that might be able to stand up to the barbs.

Personally, I think a 70 gallon with a bunch of barbs in different colors would be awesome, with maybe some snails or loaches.
 
I'm by no means an expert buuut...

I've heard that so long as you have a big enough tank, with a lot of hiding places, you can house almost any fish together that are about the same size (obviously you won't put an Oscar in there with them). I've seen tanks with tiger barbs, platies, and mollies before. They were also young tiger barbs though and the tank was about 50 gallons.

As for a bottom feeder; most fish seem to leave plecos alone, they do get quite large though. You'd probably be able to get away with it in a 70 gallon tank but I think I'd go with one of the smaller species of plecos just to be safe (think rubber lipped pleco).

Hope that helps. I'd suggest read everything you can online before attempting any combinations though. Small, semi aggressive fish are probably best. There are other barbs and catfish that would work well.
 
hmm

personally I would stay away from a pleco, they are poop factories.

Loaches might work, though be sure to get at least 3 of them.

I would go with some kind of armored catfish personally.

And a large school of barbs would look very cool.
 
Im not an expert either but it depends how many tiger barbs u have, if you only have one or two its not a problem, but if u have like 6 then they may start nipping, either stick with a big school or try a fish that will defend itself against the barbs, good luck
 
Skill, that is what one would suppose--that the fewer barbs the less nippy they'd be--but actually the opposite is true. The larger school you have, and the more the tigers stay within their own species, the less likely they are to pester any other fish you have in there. Tiger barbs like nothing better then to chase one another, and if there aren't enough of them, then they can pester other, even much larger, fish to death.
 
sarcare, are u sure about that, cause i only have one tiger barb with 2 balas and 1 albino rainbow shark and he pretty much keeps to himself
 
I am absolutely sure of that--tiger barbs are schooling fish and they really need to be in bigger schools or they can actually waste away and die. They estabilsh their dominance in the school through nipping. I'd get more tiger barbs to accompany yours, or it might turn on the other fish looking for something to school with. Mine do actually school when they aren't fighting--since I recently had a death in the tank they all have to re-establish the pecking order.
 
Check this out

Seven years ago I had a 75 gallon tank, with over 40 tiger barbs and 20 kuhli loaches. The strange thing is I put in a 3in Oscar (he was missing an eye and the pet store was going to depose of him, so they gave him to me). When he reached 9in before I moved him he co-habitated with the tigers with no problem. In some ways I think he enjoyed the company. However I would not recommend this to a newbie. But for the question at hand, I would recommend larger gouramis, other barbs, and/or danios.
 
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?
 
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