A fish that can go with a tiger barb in a five gallon tank?

Question

petsmart said that they need a 5 gallon tank and im looking for a good fish to go with HER.

what should i do?

hint: no breeding!

Answer 1

Absolutely nothing! For one, they are horrible fin nippers, and secondly should be kept in schools of at least 6 of them. Not to mention they grow larger than some schooling fish, so I would not recommend anything smaller than a 20 gallon tank for a decent sized school. Don't believe everything petsmart says. They probably don't even know what they are talking about. NEVER rely solely on a pet store for information, they do not provide the BEST info for any type of pet. Best source is to join fish forums, or research from at least 3-4 sources online or in books. I easily know more about the fish in petsmart than any of the workers there. They had Jack dempsey cichlids labelled as growing to a max size of 6".....so so wrong as they grow to a good size of 8-9".

Answer 2

Tiger barbs are a semi-aggressive fish, social fish. You need to keep tigers in a group of at least 6+.

The general rule is 1" of fish per gallon of water. Considering tiger barbs grow to 3", you could only fit 2. Having 2 usually means the dominate one will bully the weaker one to death.

I'd suggest you take back the tiger barb and get different fish. Good community fish that stay relatively small are Zebra Danios, White cloud minnows, harlequin rasboras, neon tetras, and guppies.

You could keep 3-4 of the above fish together without too many issue as most do not exceed more than 1-3/4 to 2".

If you do put that many fish in a 5g tank, make sure to change about 1/3 of the water weekly to keep it clean.

Also, slowly add fish. Start with 2 and wait at least 6 weeks for the tank to cycle, making sure to change 1/3 of the water 2x per week. After that, add another fish every 2 weeks. After all fish are added you can go to a weekly water change.

Answer 3

i would get 2 or 3 corys and 1 dwarf Gourami would work just fine. if u have any more ? about setting up ur tank just email me at [e-mail]  good luck with the new fish

Answer 4

mollies are gd. they are quite friendly too and easy to s*x.

Answer 5

how about a rainbow shark

Answer 6

Tiger barbs are schooling fish, should be in a larger tank. Five gallon are good for nothing, except maybe a Betta.

Answer 7

And I say Petsmart is wrong.  For a proper school of 6+ Tiger Barbs, you should be looking at 20 gallons at the VERY least!  Really, about all you could put in a 5 gallon tank would be a Betta and a few Cherry Barbs (far less aggressive and hardly schooling oriented), or a couple Guppies.

EDIT: A Rainbow Shark?  Really?  6 inch fish do very poorly in tanks just barely that deep...  You'd be looking at a 30 gallon tank for a Rainbow Shark.

Answer 8

First of all, tiger barbs are schooling fish and should be kept in large groups of 5 or more. If they are kept in groups less than five, like pairs or duos, or singles like yours, you can bet hardly any fish will want to be with them, as they'll be very aggressive. If you give your tiger barb at least four more friends, you can have a lot more fish in there.

Generally, tiger barbs dont' get along well with fish with long flowing fins, this includes gouramis, angelfish, etc, anything that's slow moving and generally peaceful. Their schooling habits and tendency to nip will annoy them. So don't put any long finned fish in there. You should keep your tiger barb with other fish that are semi-aggressive as well. The best choice you could make is to put some clown loaches in there, which will actually school with your tiger barb as well. Other good options is danios, pictus catfish, and platys. Tiger barbs are excellent community fish when put into a fast moving, active community with many other quick and small fish. Of course, if you're planning on having more than one tiger barb, and some other fish, a five gallon tank won't hold them at all. I suggest 15+ gallons if you're going to buy more tiger barbs and some other fish. Danios and platys are schooling fish so you'll need to consider space for five+ of them. I know it seems like it's harder to take care of a large aquarium, but five gallons really isn't suitable for anything but one or two very small fish. I would do an upgrade and focus on creating a great community including some loaches. If you try to put even one more fish in your 5 gallon aquarium, your tiger barb will very very agitated, as they are an aggresive fish already, and being in a cramped space with another fish will make it even worse. It is a bit of a hassle to get a new aquarium and cycle it again, but it's worth it, you don't want unhappy fish.