Fish of the Month — November

The tiger barb.
(Puntius tetrazona)

Tiger barbs are very active schooling fish, which need at least 8 in a group and a 25 gallon tank; with less tigers, they will be more likely to be aggressive towards any tankmates. They get along well with other fish if the others are not slow moving and do not have long fins. They need to have room for swimming, some hiding spots, and plants. They get along great with bottom feeders and top-dwellers as long as they have short fins. Other fish in the middle of the water column are usually chased around.

Tiger barbs come from Southeast Asia; they're native to Indonesia and Malaysia. They are usually found in clear, medium fast streams in the tropics. Some have also been found in swampy lakes where the water quality changes a lot; they're very hardy fish, which is great for beginners.

Sexing tiger barbs is not difficult. The male has dark orange on his face and bright red on the edge of his dorsal fin. Females have less red and are usually fatter. They're pretty easy to breed, but they eat their own eggs so a separate spawning tank is necessary if you want to raise fry.

Tiger barbs are very adaptable to most aquarium parameters. They thrive in soft, slightly acidic water with a pH between 6 to 7 and dH between 4 to 10. They can tolerate any pH from 5-8.5 and dH between 4-19. An ideal temperature for them in the aquarium is around 74-79F (23-26C). For breeding purposes, the pH is best just around 6 with a temperature of 81F (27C).

Tigers grow to about 3 inches; they grow very quickly if fed on frozen or live foods. They accept flake foods and even eat algae wafers. They also like to munch on fresh cucumber and zucchini.

Tiger barbs are very pretty; gold color with bold stripes and red markings. The black parts sometimes have an iridescent green shine. They come in three main color variations; there's natural gold and black, green, and albino. There are also a few other colors, like platinum and black, but they're based off the green and are pretty hard to find. Since all of them are still the same species, they shoal together, giving options as to which colors you would like in your aquarium.


Pros:
-they give the tank a personality
-they're fun to watch as they chase each other around
-they always love when people visit them
-they're available in different colors
-they don't get sick as easily as other fish


Cons:
-they tear up long flowy fins
-they tear up anything slow-moving
-they gang up on new fish
-they need to be in groups of at least 8 if you don't want any aggression

Mrehh.

So the bamboo shrimp died the day after the last post; Trooper decided the meat would be a nice snack and left only an empty shell. A few days later, a tetra died.

Liberty started to look pretty stressed out since it's getting cold and her little tank doesn't have a heater, so I moved her into the isolation net in the 55 gallon so she can stay warm; she seems a lot happier. I'm leaving her in the net so the tiger barbs don't tear up her fins.

The plants in the 20 long have been growing like crazy; the leaves on the big Amazon sword actually were sticking out of the water, and the Rubin sword is curling under the surface. The parts of the leaves closest to the light fixture even started to burn and melt.

Last weekend I did a 50% water change in the 55 because the nitrates were up around 120ppm. On Friday, I moved the big Amazon and Rubin swords into it since they've outgrown the 20 long, and so they can absorb some of the nitrates, which are down around 40ppm now. The orange angelfish likes to peck at the leaves, which is the reason the lady I got the two from wanted to get rid of them.

I found some more eggs attached to a leaf on the Amazon sword Saturday, but they were eaten before I could do anything with them.

The angels are mostly grown, so they're territorial, and I can tell that the orange one is dominant over the white one. The tiger barbs are always picking on the white one, so I'll probably bring him with me to drop him off when I go to the Aquarium Store next weekend for new plants.

And that's pretty much it.