tiger Barbs and Cherry Barbs
 

Went to the lfs today to return a featherfin catfish and saw the neatest red "barb". I asked if they could/would shoal with tiger barbs and got a blank stare. So.... do gold and cherry barbs shoal with tigers?

No. And to explain...

A fish species that is termed shoaling or schooling, needs a group of its own species. There are several reasons for this. One is obviously security. Another is social interaction within the group, which may be "play" related or some sort of hierarchy that the fish work out themselves. But it is absolutely essential for the health of the fish that they have a group, and severe stress can result otherwise.

Related to this we have "getting along" between different species. Some fish species tolerate other fish species and some don't to varying degrees. This we term compatibility. Some barb species work well together provided there are sufficient numbers of each species. All barb are fairly active fish, thinking of swimming, so they tend to do well together from this aspect. But each species needs several of its own in the tank. Minimum numbers are included in our profile, and these three species are all included. Click shaded names: Tiger Barb, Cherry Barb, Golden Barb.

Byron.

Thanks. I wasn't sure but now I know.... Is there any kind of barb besides the green and tiger that will shoal with tigers? Something with a different color? Made the rookie mistake of buying barbs and finding it difficult to give them playmates that are eye catching.

Compatibility rather than shoal is what we are talking about. Shoaling is confined to a species, technically, and the "Green" and "Albino" Tiger Barb are just variants of the same species so these may shoal more. They may swim around together, as species groups together or sometimes individual fish. Barbs generally get along with barbs, meaning different species, though some of them get large, so consider this in relation to the tank space. Tigers should be in a group of at least 8.

Some of the danio also work, being similarly active. Zebra danio and Pearl Danio are in our profiles with photos and info. Some of the other small/medium barbs are there too.

Albino barbs, as mentioned above, are a pretty orangish color with white stripes and mix nicely with greens and traditional. :3

Other fish, besides danios, that will do well with tiger barbs are Rosy barbs (as long as your tank is large enough). They are also a lot more peaceful, but are absolute pigs. :K (They. eat. anything!)

As for colors, males are red and females tend to be gold. Plus there is a long finned variety to spice the look up. (I have a mixture between long and short finned)

They also tend to hang out in the lower region of the tank (every now and them mine swim higher but they rarely go to the surface so I have to feed them with sinking pellets)