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Highlights
About Tiger Barb
The Tiger Barb is colorful and quite good looking. They come in several color variations ranging from green to albino. The most common Tigers have four black vertical stripes that run across the body, which is orange. Their fins are bright reddish orange or red.
The most popular type
Green tiger barb
Gold and Albino Tiger Barbs
The Tiger Barb is a hardy and active schooling fish with stunning coloration and distinct personalities. Because of the deep body, Tiger Barbs is very attracting when viewing from aquarium sides that makes them ideal fish for aquascaping. The real is that the Tiger Barb is a very widely kept freshwater fish species in the aquarium.
Tank setup
A well planted tank with plenty of swimming space is ideal for these active fish. Since they're a very active fish, wide open areas are needed for swimming. At least a 20 gallon fish tank for 5 Tiger Barbs is recommended. Lots of plants, a fine substrate, and adequate lighting and filtration are also important.
Tiger Barbs are able to handle a variety of water conditions, although they do better in soft water. The optimal temperature range is between 20 and 25°C (68 to 77°F). Tiger barbs should ideally be kept in a tank with a pH range between 6.5 and 7.5, and a dGH range of 4-12.
Temperament and tankmates
Tiger Barbs and Neon Tetras in a planted tank
Tigers are often considered to be aggressive because of their fin nipping habits. For this reason they should not be kept with slow moving fish or fish that have long fins. They will thrive better when there are at least five specimens kept together, but more is preferred. Having many Tigers in the same tank will often curb and even stop their appetite for fins!
Some good tankmates include a Red-Tailed Black Shark, a Bala Shark, Odessa Barbs, Cherry Barbs, Rosy barbs, Corydoras, Plecos, Giant Danios, Gouramis, Mollies, Tetras… Clown Loaches have been known to school with Tiger Barbs as well. Eclipse Catfish would probably be ok. Tiger Barbs in different colors will also enjoy shoaling together, so you can create an aquarium with plenty of varieties of them. Extremely territorial and aggressive fish (such as African and New World Cichlids) are not recommended as tankmates.
You shouldn't keep Guppies or Angelfish in the same aquarium with Tiger Barbs. The introduction of these fish in the community tank can be risky. Considering their relative aggressive nature, could be a good idea to think twice before you add them in your community tank.
Feeding and fish foods
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Tiger Barbs are omnivores and will accept pretty much types of fish foods you put in the tank. The best thing to do is to make sure that they are fed a mix of both proteins as well as flakes. They love bloodworms and brine shrimp. They can be fed both live and/or frozen foods for the meatier portion.
Feeding should be done twice daily, but for faster growth rates feeding can be increased to three times. Tiger Barbs are very ravenous eaters and will consume everything that you feed them, so be careful to not overfeed or they will die.
Breeding tiger barb and caring the fry
Tiger Barbs usually reach sexual maturity at the total body lengths of 2-3 cm, about 7-8 weeks after birth. Males display a bright red coloration on the wings and nose, while the females tend to be more round in the abdominal area and less colorful.
The proper tank setup for breeding is to either have a very fine layer of substrate on the tank bottom or none at all. There should be large, leafy plants for spawning. The female lays the eggs stick on objects in the bottom of the breeding tank and the male produces sperms to fertilize the eggs, two activities happen at the same time. The parents will eat their fry and should be removed after the spawning.
The eggs hatch after 2 days. After hatching for 5 days, the fry begin to eat foods from the external environment. Feeding the fry with daphnia, egg yolk, brine shrimp (live or frozen)… You should feed the fry just enough to avoid causing dirty water and the fish death.
After a time, caring the fry as their parents. When they reach a size that isn't fit to the mouth of any fish in your aquarium, bring them to the new home where they can see their parents.
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My Tiger Bard did pretty well with other population.
even mated with other female fish then he got aggressive.
but the more in population he is well.
waiting to see if the eggs are his are someone for the other fish.