Hi Everyone,

I have 4 tiger barbs in my 45gal tank, I had 6 originally but lost 2. They are quite well adjusted, they don't bother the other fish but they do chase one another quite a bit. Anyway, I would like to add 4 more. The 4 I have now are full grown, I don't think they will get any bigger, but if I add to the number I want to put in some smaller ones not yet fully grown.

Now here's my question, will the fully grown tigers harm the smaller ones? Since they seem to chase one another I'm concerned they may hurt the smaller tigers.

Any insight here would be good...

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45g pentagonal
4 Swordtails, 2 dwarf Gouramis, 5 Mollies, 1 Rainbow Shark, 6 Molly fry 6 zebra danios

88 gal Malawi tank
4 Yellow labs, 1 Baenshi, 2 Borleyis, 3 Trewavas, 2 Livingstonis, 1 Venustus, 2 Green Terrors

Tiger barbs are pretty aggressive to each other and sometimes smaller fish.If you can try to get some the same size that would help.I am not too sure if they will go for the smaller ones.

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

I've added slightly smaller to the group I had in my large tank (125gl) and they did ok. In the past I've put 2 in with 2 others that were half their size, and they formed a nice pack. My guess is like many other fish the more you have the better.
They will definitly chase each other and create their pecking order. The ones you have will likely except them as juvies.

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"Buddha in your tank"

I keep and breed tiger barbs for years. Feed them well, better live food and do not worry. I added younger tiger barbs and raised them with adults and oth,er fish species in my 29 g community tank. They chase each other all the time, but to me it looks rather like a play then aggression. If you have live plants in the tank, they will always find a good place to hide, if tired.

Well, just an update, I did in fact get 4 more which were probably half the size of the 4 that I already had. The moment I put them in they immediately joined the 4 big ones. The bigger barbs did chase them around a bit and even bullied one of them quite badly. His dorsal and tail fins were badly nipped, in fact a large part of his tail got chomped off and he was battling to swim, I thought he was a goner. He hid away for a while and the nipped fins healed and grew back. The one surpirsing thing was that after the inclusion of the new barbs, the pack got more aggressive to my other fish. They killed two of my juvenile mollies and also 2 new mollies I put in the tank. They have calmed down now and keep to themselves again. I think it will be sfe to put new fish in the tank now. Gonna put 4 swordtails in when I find the ones i'm looking for.

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45g pentagonal
4 Swordtails, 2 dwarf Gouramis, 5 Mollies, 1 Rainbow Shark, 6 Molly fry 6 zebra danios

88 gal Malawi tank
4 Yellow labs, 1 Baenshi, 2 Borleyis, 3 Trewavas, 2 Livingstonis, 1 Venustus, 2 Green Terrors

Tiger Barbs aren't exactly community fish, although they may be listed as such. The reason I have never bought any myself is I know that I would have to pretty much stick with them only. Some fish work well with them, but I would stay away from livebearers(Molly, Guppy, Swordtail, Platy, ...). I think they will end up dead also. You just have too many TBs for anything else to live peacfully in your tank....unless it is a semi-agressive.

Right now, I keep a school of five tiger barbs (two females and one male) in my 29 g community tank. In the same tank I have five glowlight tetras, five platies, one kribensis male and two shrimps. I feed them very well. Hungry tiger barbs tend to be more inquisitie and aggressive. I feed them with grindal worms, flakes and occasionally with raw meat products, such as chicken breast, liver or salmon. When well fed, they p[ay more attention to each other then to other fish. Most of the time my tiger barbs lived with tetras and livebearers.