What's the right Danio/ Barb Mix

Question

I have a ten gallon aquarium. I am thinking about getting cherry barbs, golden barbs and zebra danios. I know they like to school, but I also can only get a limited amount of fish total with a 10 gal tank. How many of each fish should I get? Will the cherry barbs and golden barbs school together?

Answer 1

I would say 4 or each, just make sure you stay on top of the water changes and keep the water quality good. That will work!=)

Answer 2

In a 10 Gallon Tank...its questionable with a school of each.  Barbs get about 3 inches a piece and can get Semi-aggressive and nip fins...especially in 1)tight quarters and 2) If you Zebras have the longer fins and especially in a smaller tank, where they have less room to escape...they have short finned and long finned Zebra Danios.

Also...considering a nice school of 5 Barbs would do best in a 15-20 Gallon minimum tank...to have 2 schools of 2 different types of barbs open the door for more agression in a 10 gallon tank.  Not to mention another school with Danios.

So my suggestion...Get 5 Zebra Danios and pick another fish like 1 Dwarf Gourami and 3 Cory Cats.

If you are going to do a school of Barbs..,stick just to one school of 5 Barbs and nothing else.  Lots of plant cover and great filtration...you will eventually need to upgrade to add more fish and as the barbs hit full size at about 3 inches a piece.  They would possibly start showing aggression to each other if it gets too cramped for them.

Best of Luck!