URL : http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cyprinids/tigerbarb.php
Barbus tetrazona
The Tiger Barb, once called the "Sumatranus" because it came from Sumatra, has been a popular fish for a long time and is a standard favorite in the aquarium world. This is a real lively, fun to watch fish!
A flashy colorful fish that is hardy and easy to keep, the Tiger Barb eats all kinds of foods and is fairly easy to breed. This is the largest of the "banded barbs", and has a gaily colored yellow to red body with four very distinctive black stripes. There is red on the outside of the dorsal fins, on the tail and ventral fins, and a bright red snout during spawning times.
Some varieties or "color morphs" of the Tiger Barb are the Albino Tiger Barb and the Green ("moss") Tiger Barb.
Though when mature, their colors do tend to fade a bit, a school of these playful and attractive fish in a nice sized aquarium makes an awesome display!
These active fast swimming fish need company. The Tiger Barb does best in a school of at least six or seven fishes where they establish a "pecking order". They have been known to nip the fins of slower moving and long-finned fish such as gouramis and angelfish, but this problem seems to be demonstrated when they are being kept individually or in a smaller group. Presumably in a larger school they are too busy chasing each other to bother with their other tankmates.
An aquarium best suited to the Tiger Barb should have a fine gravel bottom with plants around the inside perimeter along the sides and back, leaving lots of open swimming space. They are susceptible to ich.
For more Information on keeping this fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium
Care and feeding:
Since they are omnivorous the Tiger Barb will generally eat all kinds of live, fresh, and flake foods. To keep a good balance give them a high quality flake food everyday. Feed brine shrimp (either live or frozen) or blood worms as a treat.
Distribution:
Tiger barbs are found in Indonesia, Sumatra, Borneo, and possibly Thailand.
Size - Weight:
These fish get up to 3 inches (7 cm).
Social Behaviors:
The lively Tiger Barb makes a good community fish, especially with other fast moving fish. They have been known to get a bit nippy, especially when kept singly or in very small groups so it is a good idea to get at least six or seven. Then they bother each other instead of the other tank inhabitants.
Some sources do not recommend them as a community fish because of this tendency to nip the fins of slow moving and long-finned fishes, such as gouramis and angelfish.
Sexual Differences:
The female is heavier especially during the spawning season. The males are more brightly colored and smaller. During spawning they will develop a very red nose.
Water Region: Top, Middle, Bottom:
These fish will swim in all areas of the aquarium, but prefer the middle of the aquarium.
Acceptable Water Conditions:
Hardness: 2-30° dGH (not demanding)
pH: 6.5 to 7.5 prefers slightly acid (to 6.5) for breeding
Temp: 68-79° F (20-26°) C
Breeding/Reproduction:
The Tiger Barbs are egg layers. See the description of breeding techniques in Breeding Freshwater Fish.
Availability:
The Tiger Barb is readily available in its natural form as well as a long-finned variety.
Comments from people who have kept this fish:
Click to see all 12 comments!
Love those Tiger Barbs...I have 11 in a planted 37 tall and it is like the music they live their life by would be circus music. What a show just a gang of goof-offs!!
I love Tiger barbs, and currently have 16 in a planted 55 gallon tank along with my Rainbow shark. They are so much fun to watch and at that number when they school up together it's really cool looking because it does not just look like they are swiming close to each other but like they are acting as one.
I had 6 tiger barbs, now I have 4, and 2 male bettas. All of them get along great. It is cool to sit down and watch them play. It is fun to watch them eat the flake food I put in for them.
I have 3 tiger barbs and 4 guppies, 1 male and 3 females (a good match), and a couple of neons. recently iv seen them biting my neons so im like holy **** so now i have them separated from my neons.
We have three tiger barbs in our 55 gallon aquarium. We did have 4, but one was a little bit smaller than the mouth of our knife fish. They are definately one of my favorites. They try to attack your hands while your cleaning out the tank and if you get one it is a good idea to get more than 1 because they will attack your other fish if they dont have partners.
I have three 3 tiger barbs and 2 Moss green barbs, I have found them to be really good with the setup ive got (3ft tank with 1x Blue acara, 1x Red forest jewel 1x Bristlenose catfish 1x Bunblebee catfish, 1x Clown loach and 1x Pictus catfish) They pay alot of "attention" to new tank mates for about half and hour then get bored of them and go back to chasing each other. The one I believe is the girl, is the biggest at about 6cm and is the ruler of the others. I have found them a great fish to watch and keep and would recommend them for most community setups (but not with neons oh no not with neons:( ).
Some of the most informative comments:
Wow, tigerbarbs are cute n lively.. They move around the fish tank happily.. I have 11 of them.. I feed them with fish flakes n they love it I suppose. Ha Ha.. Happy watching them n feeding them..
Tiger barbs are my favorite fish. They are very colorful. I had 5 white clouds with 4 tiger barbs and 3 alibino barbs. They were peaceful with each other. On the other hand, I had 3 danios, and 2 died mysteriously. Now I have 6 tiger barbs and 5 serpae tetras. I feed them flake food everyday and shrimp as a treat.
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