Tiger Barbs & White Cloud Mountain Minnows

[Crowbe]

Does anyone have experience keeping these two fish.. together.. in the same tank?

My plan is, 14 WCM and 20(ish) Tiger Barbs in a 40 Breeder. I've seen people say they should be fine, and others say something quite the opposite.

I think the minnows will school tighter (they basically don't right now, it's them and a goldfish in the 40b) and the barbs will eventually ignore them.

It'll be planted pretty heavily as most of my plants are already in there and my plan for my 55 (tiger Barb current home) does not include plant friendly fish. So, any advice, tips, concerns?  Thanks in advance! 🙂

[NorthernAquarist]

On 7/13/2021 at 6:10 AM, Crowbe said:

Does anyone have experience keeping these two fish.. together.. in the same tank?

My plan is, 14 WCM and 20(ish) Tiger Barbs in a 40 Breeder. I've seen people say they should be fine, and others say something quite the opposite.

I think the minnows will school tighter (they basically don't right now, it's them and a goldfish in the 40b) and the barbs will eventually ignore them.

It'll be planted pretty heavily as most of my plants are already in there and my plan for my 55 (tiger Barb current home) does not include plant friendly fish. So, any advice, tips, concerns?  Thanks in advance! 🙂

Hello,

In our experience of keeping Tiger Barbs, even in larger schools, is eventually they nip eachother to death and certainly almost any tankmate....regardless of their population count. They just like to lol, chase and nip. 

Honestly not sure if they really care for plants, as they are just too preoccupied with chasing eachother lol.

I would opt out of keeping another smaller fish with them, but that's me. I avoid those pesky barbs as they just turn into fin nipping bullies lol....Great looking fish.

Good luck though, maybe you will get lucky for awhile. 

[Crowbe]

On 7/13/2021 at 6:19 AM, NorthernAquarist said:

Hello,

In our experience of keeping Tiger Barbs, even in larger schools, is eventually they nip eachother to death and certainly almost any tankmate....regardless of their population count. They just like to lol, chase and nip. 

Honestly not sure if they really care for plants, as they are just too preoccupied with chasing eachother lol.

I would opt out of keeping another smaller fish with them, but that's me. I avoid those pesky barbs as they just turn into fin nipping bullies lol....Great looking fish.

Good luck though, maybe you will get lucky for awhile. 

Now that you say that, it could explain a few... *Looks around* "disappearances"..

They are indifferent to the plants they're with now. They care very little about anything but food and themselves. Maybe that's why I like them so much, they remind me of me lol thanks for the input though, if I do it, I'll try to remember to update!

[Tom H]

Tiger Barbs are amazing and only get nippy with each other if they are unhappy. But with wcm... They will pick on them quite a lot. Usually you only keep other fish with tiger Barb if they are bigger than them, in my experience. I have tigers with yoyo loach and they've sorted their differences and are GREAT together!

Oh! Also plants like pogostemon octopus are really good for tiger Barb. Mine use them as cover in the evening and night time.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Tom H

[Crowbe]

Well I have a bunch of plants. Anubias nana and some other weird ones as well as some jungle ferns. I was going to group them together to cover my filter intake, sponge filter and heater, or maybe just at one end in the corner of the room and I figured that'd help the wcm be able to get away if need be. And there are just as many minnows as barbs, so as a school they're a pretty decent size. Idk.. but if people don't think it's a good idea.. maybe I won't then.

[Aquarius Aquatics]

I have a newfound appreciation for tiger barbs. My work just got some the other day for their aquarium and I never realized how pretty they are. They also got australian rainbowfish so I'm excited to see how the tank turns out.