Serape Tetras And Tiger Barb Compatibility

Hi,

I currently have a 32 gallon tank with 2 tiger barbs, 2 corydoras, and one red tailed shark. I was wanting to add maybe 4 serape tetras and 2 more tiger barbs in my tank. I know they usually do better in 6 but I don’t want to overcrowd my tank. And I think 11 is the maximum number of fish I’d be comfortable with.

Would they be able to live together without being too aggressive? In my experience semi-aggressive fish together seem to balance out but tiger barbs are chasers and I don’t want to stress out any fish.

Any advice would be great!

 

I would add 6 more Cories of the same species and 6 more Tiger barbs. This would be far from overstocked. Certain numbers of fish in a tank are arbitrary and I’m not sure where 11 came from, but you should be completing current schools so that they’re comfortable, which right now they are not. Due to the tank size, I would not put another mid level schooling fish with Tiger Barbs.

Hope this helps!

 

I would add 6 more Cories of the same species and 6 more Tiger barbs. This would be far from overstocked. Certain numbers of fish in a tank are arbitrary and I’m not sure where 11 came from, but you should be completing current schools so that they’re comfortable, which right now they are not. Due to the tank size, I would not put another mid level schooling fish with Tiger Barbs.

Hope this helps!

11 was my number of comfortable fish as my red tail shark is very large and territorial over 1/4 of the tank so it only gives me about 3/4 of a tank to really work with! All our fish in there are full grown now so we struggle going to stores where the fish aren’t babies. We’ve attempted to by smaller tiger barbs in our tank and the ones we already had in there were pretty aggressive to them. Maybe adding more plant life will help when adding new fish. Thank you!

 

I think you're right, more plants/cover seem to improve fish mood. Whatever you do, if you want active, happy barbs they say 6 is the minimum. I'm inclined to think 7-8 is the sweet spot.
Do you notice 'anti-social' behavior from the barbs?

Anecdotal barely relevant story:
At one point I had 2 mollies, 2 glo skirt tetras, and one red glo tiger barb. TB was so unhappy he threw himself into the filter intake within two weeks. There were a lot of contributing factors, and I should have just given him away.

I now have 11 in a 55 gal, w/ 5 of the glo skirt tetras. Barbs are content, tetras are a little uneasy. Point being i'd wager even 5 may not work for some TB schools. Others may just have the self-confidence to adapt. I think tiger barbs, especially the glo-fish ones, are way more interesting than tetras anyway.

 

11 was my number of comfortable fish as my red tail shark is very large and territorial over 1/4 of the tank so it only gives me about 3/4 of a tank to really work with! All our fish in there are full grown now so we struggle going to stores where the fish aren’t babies. We’ve attempted to by smaller tiger barbs in our tank and the ones we already had in there were pretty aggressive to them. Maybe adding more plant life will help when adding new fish. Thank you!

When you only have 2 tiger barbs, any newcomers are going to be attacked to determine their place in the hierarchy. If you want to make them all happier, you're just going to go with the tiger barbs. That way the aggression is dispersed amongst more individuals. I don't know why you're using 11 as your sweet spot number. Is there an actual method to the selection, or is it just a random number determination?

Definitely skip the tetras. They're fin nippers by nature, and the tiger barbs won't put up with it, and the tetras aren't equipped to deal with them. Finish off the shoal of cories. 6-8 should be your goal there. Most are shoaling, not schooling fish, and are much more comfortable with more of their kind in sight.