Tiger Barb (Puntius tetrazona)
Fri, Oct 12, 2007
Tiger Barb Photo © C.B. Agulto
Profile
Origin: Sumatra and Borneo
Behavior: Peaceful and active in groups of 6 or more, otherwise very nippy in smaller groups
Temperature: 68–79 °F (20–26 °C)
pH: 6.0 – 8.0
Size: 3″ (7 cm), should be kept in a minimum tank size of 20 gallons for adequate swimming space
Diet: Accepts flakes and live or freeze-dried food
Breeding: Egglayers, eggs are laid on broad leaf vegetation early in the morning. Tiger Barbs will eat the eggs after spawning, so it is recommended to remove them for the maximum number of offspring
Sex: Females have a rounder belly, while males have a bright red nose with a tinge of red on their dorsal fins
Notes
Tiger Barb Photo © C.B. Agulto
One of the most active community fish, the tiger barb features distinct black stripes on its diamond shaped body. The many varieties of Tiger Barbs include the Green and Albino variety. The Tiger Barb is best kept in groups of 6 or more, or it will furiously nip the fins of other fish. The long, swaying fins of the Angelfish are especially vulnerable to be nipped off from Tiger Barbs. I believe that Tiger Barbs are more active in larger groups, too. A tank full of a community of Tiger Barbs can create an exotic display by themselves.
Conclusion
Care: [rate 5]
Hardiness: [rate 5]
Temperament: [rate 3.5]
Breeding: [rate 4]
Overall: [rate 4]
October 12th, 2007 at 11:11 pm
I have a tank with 11 Tiger Barbs, and the tank looks great with only the Tiger Barbs because of their tight schooling patterns. They follow me around the tank knowing that I provide them food. I feed the Tiger Barbs flakes and freeze dried bloodworms every morning and afternoon.
These guys can be nippy in small groups. In larger groups, Tiger Barbs establish a pecking order among each other, so there is less nipping of the other fish.
June 7th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
i have 1 tiger barb in my tank right now bexause i origianally bought two but the next was eaten by my clowns but my other lives 2 months later. i’m about to buy more but i’ve only seen him nip my dwarf gourami’s fin once.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Whoa, that is really odd. I’ve never heard of seen an instance where a clown loach would harm such a fish like the Tiger Barb. It would be the other way around. Clown loaches are pretty friendly, perhaps too friendly.
They always implore and investigate what other fishes are doing, like it’s their life goal. My clown loaches would sometime follow my German Blue Rams and my Chinese Algae Eater probing them with their mouths but never harming them. Also, I always see my loaches sleep right on top of my algae eater, but the algae eater doesn’t really like that, and he tries to run to the other side of the tank.
Your barbs were really well-behaved if they only tried to nip your gouramis bright and beautiful fins one time. When you buy more barbs, you should see the nipping to cease (if you decide to purchase more than 6).
July 13th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I have just purchased another 7 Tigers to add in with the others. I now have 12 in total and they seem to love swimming up close to each other. So far, they have not shown any sign of nipping but they are only tiny yet.
I am however a bit worried that they may take advantage of of my Platty’s nice long tails. Any advice for the prevention of future casualties is much appreciated
July 13th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Are there signs of aggression currently, in your tank? Usually, tiger barbs will mellow out and focus on each other while they are in a group of your size so the platy wouldn’t be a target.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Hello, I used to have three tiger barbs, one died. Now I have two tiger barbs and one pleco. Even though I have a ten gallon tank, my fish are still very happy. Please post if you have any ideas to make my fish happier.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
For your ten gallon tank, Tiger Barbs will not have enough room to swim around. Also, your two tiger barbs would be lonely with each other, so it would be preferable to boost that number to at least 6. A larger tank would be first priority, though.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
hi, we have just bought 4 tiger barbs and after reading up on them we intend buying at least 4 more, my concern is that we purchased 4 malawian fish the next day and they seem to b very aggresive toward my tiger babies, we have had a silver dollar, two tin foils and a bala shark who are around 12cm each and havnt harmed the tiger barbs at all but these four malawians are constantly going at them, what should i do? i love my tiger barbs and we only have them for 3days now.. they are just too gorgeous
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 pm
You should either take back the Malawi cichlids or the tiger barbs. In most cases, tiger barbs will usually do fine in large groups with more territorial fish, but the Malawi cichlids are a nasty bunch that don’t mess around.
November 16th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
i got 4 small tiger barbs today theyre really active in my twenty gallon tank..i got a betta and two other mollys….anyone reccomend any other fish?
November 25th, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Hi, my name is Joshua.
I used to have 3 tiger barbs, 1 died, and my pleco died awhile ago. And so I only have 2 tiger barbs, can you give me advice to help my tiger barbs survive? Everybody knows that if their fish died, they would be pretty sad, too. Can you please give me some advice?
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:57 pm
hey im marcus i have a 10 gallon tank and im going to buy 4 tiger barbs is that alright
March 24th, 2009 at 12:54 am
I have one tiger barb in a pack of 6 other random fish – he keeps attacking them all! I can take him out or will he get better as he becomes more familar with them?
July 11th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
my tiger barbs life with an angelfish and they dont nip his fins. they have been living together ever since i got them
August 8th, 2009 at 2:02 am
hi im Ange i currently have a few tetras 2 silver sharks and 2 angel fish my mate is giving me 3 female tiger barb how would they go together???
February 16th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
I recently bought two tiger barbs for my tank as starter fish. The fish shop they were suitable along with two kuhli loaches.
The barbs started out being aggressive to each other so I had decide to return them to the store the next day after reading how they shouldn’t be kept in groups of less than 5/6
They had killed each other by the morning.
I was annoyed that the shop hadn’t warned me that such a small group was likely to result in one killing the other. I had had them less than 24 hours and felt awful. When we went back one of the people said they were surprised, one said they weren’t.
I would advise against having them in small sets.