Can I add Angel or sword tail with these tiger barbs

HI All,

I have 6 tiger barbs, and one of it is a bully. In my LFS they recommended that if I can get rid of that one barb, then it may be okay to add an angel or sword tail. Well, I tried that and put him in a separate tank, which unleashed the war among the other 5 barbs. I suppose they are trying to establish a new rank. Now, I am afraid that one of the 5 will win, and become a new bully, in other words looks like it is a never ending saga :-(. I would rather have an angel and sword tail than a tiger barb, is there any way to bring down barb's aggressiveness, should I go ahead and add angelfish and watch what the barbs do? May be they bully only among themselves, and leave angel alone. Any suggestions? My last option is to trade barbs and get angels.

Thanks,
Alex.

 

HI Alex
I would go with your last option, trade them in and get angelfish. Tiger barbs and Angels should not be together in my opinion, I have had bad luck with them. But I am sure there are others here that have had good luck with the two. It really depends on your barbs behavior. Sounds like you have an aggressive one in the tank, as I did. I moved him around and it didnt matter what tank he was in, he would end up being a bully. He even killed another tiger barb. I love the look of the fish, but will never keep them again.

~ kate

 

No tiger barbs with angels, ever. The barbs will rip the angels' fins off.

 

Your barbs are funny! They make a good fight show! Just kidding....



Here's a tip to calm down your little toughies:

Do you know zebra danios? They're dither fish: Fishes that help control those nasty little aggressive tank mates by swimming quite fast and the bad fish gets intimidated. Having at least 4 of them will leave your barbs cowering behind a rock. It worked with me: I had 2 tiger barbs that kept bullying my fishes. I was thinking of killing them or flushing them down the toilet, but I don't want to be a fish murderer. But when I had danios, both of them were hiding in a cave and my other fishes were now living in peace. If this doesn't work, you can give your tiger barbs to someone you hate who has an aquarium but not very experienced and tell him/her: "These are great fish! I want you to have them because you're my friend!" Or, you can just give them to a pet shop.

Good luck with your war; I mean, your aquarium!;D

 

I have kept tiger barbs and angels together in the past without problems. Just make sure that the angels you get are the bigger ones, for example (for a non-veil) at least 2.5 - 3 inches from dorsal fin to bottom fin. The little ones are too delicate to put in with tigers. You should really keep them in a school of 6 more to avoid any problems. They usually will sort out their own pecking order.