# Other Aquarium Forums > Fish Care, Nutrition and Water Management >  Tiger Barbs and Neon Tetras?

## zoli

Hi everybody!

I have a quick question about compatibility between fish. I have a 150 litres planted tank with 7 tiger barbs and 6 rosy barbs. Now I'm thinking of introducing about 8 neon tetras into the tank. What do you guys think will happen. The tiger barbs are all mature and as big as a tiger barb can ever get, and they also have that well known nasty tiger barb atitude  :Evil: . I'm kinda worried they gonna mess up those little neon tetras bad. What do you guys think?

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## benny

As long as you have a shoal of Tiger bards, they will turn their attention to each other instead of other fishes. Should not be a problem.

Cheers,

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## zoli

Ok, I'm getting back on this thread after a while cuz I have new information. I purchased the 8 neon tetras and introduced them in the tank and well.... there was carnage. All my 7 adult tiger barb started chasing the neons biting there fins and tails to shreds. Before I could even react 1 tetra was dead and the 7 left were fighting for their lives. I turned off the lights and plunged the whole tank in total darkness so that the neon tetras will have a chance to escape. After this, I painstakingly I started taking them out of the tank with a net and a flashlight, very hard to do this in a 150 liters, well planted tank using a net and flashlight. However I managed, now the neons are in my 20 liters hospital tank, which is clearly too small for them. One of them will probably die from his injuries though, don't know about the rest. I' m gonna probably take the survivors back to the store were I bought them.

Now I need recommendations, what type of fish could I buy so that something like this will not happen again? Adult tiger barbs are a like piranhas

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## Burky

Tiger barbs are fin nipping fish. No matter how many of them are in the tank. As long as there is another kind of fish they will chase them. Even suckers. So if you want to have tiger barbs in your tank you should be keeping one kind only. Personally i advise you rasboras. They are very peaceful and peace giving fish. But one point, since tiger barb and rasbora are from sea and neons from south america i do not recommend you to mix any of them. Go for one biotope then you will enjoy your tank more.

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## zoli

Thanks for the answer, I get the point. I have these 7 tiger barbs and they are together with 6 rosy barbs. They have no problem with the rosys (even though some of the rosys are those longer fin types), so now I'm thinking to maybe get other barbs. Would cherry barbs or something similar be good here? Rasboras look great too but they are so peaceful that I'm worried for their safety after I saw what these tiger barbs can do.

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## iwishweallcouldwin

my adult-sized tiger barb never ever gave my plecos any trouble, neither does it touch my peruvian angels. it was also whacked by my apistos when they were in brooding mood. i guess for your tigers, when they're in a pack, their mean-ness increases exponentially. but i do believe that each fish displays its own unique character, as i've seen shoals of tiger barbs living peacefully with other tankmates in a comm tank before.

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## enhanzed

feel sad for your neons , well 2 things learnt here (1) tiger barbs & tetras don't mix (2) take advise from forums with a truckload of salt

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## zoli

I'm thinking about a strategy here.... It might be that my tiger barbs are very teritorial right now, so I was thinking what would happen if I would move them out of the main tank, and put the neons back in with just the rosys. Then I would wait for about 2 weeks for them to get used to their new surrounding and feel confortable. Only then I would try to put the tiger barbs back. I think fish don't have much of a memory so maybe the tigers would feel out of place, not at home, and would not attack the neon tetras. Could this work?

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## Salphur

Hi, 
it is quite possible as it can help to stabilize the tetra and rosy barb population before reintroducing the tigers to reduce their territorial temperament in a new environment. Alternatively you can try to put in a few tigers after 2 weeks to monitor the situation before putting the whole gang back in.

However, meanwhile do remember to keep your tetras and rosies well fed to keep them big and healthy!

Cheers!

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## benny

Your neon tetras may be too small for your adult tiger barbs. Sizes of the fishes do matter as large fishes do chase smaller fishes. Perhaps larger tetras will be a better choice.

As such, your strategy to remove the barbs before reintroducing them will not work. Rasboras as tankmates should be workable. Rasboras are fast swimming fishes and normally do not stop.

Cheers,

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## zoli

Yes, the neons are a little small, but the thing is that even if they grow up, they are way smaller in their adult state then the tiger barbs. Before applying my strategy I was thinking of holding the tetras in a different tank until they get bigger. So I would introduce then only when they are bigger and stronger.

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## benny

hmm... Maximum size for Neon tetras is about 3 to 4 cm. Not going to be of much help.

What's your tank setup like? Any good hiding place for them? Any pictures of your tank?

Cheers,

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## zoli

I'll put some pictures soon. But no amount of hiding places could ever help. My tiger barbs just search systematically every corner, behind every rock, every dark place behind the leaves or the valisneria forest. They seem very skilled and very motivated. From what I saw, they just made finding those tetras their purpose in life. I guess I just answered my own question, this will never work. How about those rasboras? Should I try that? I guess I should buy all mature very big ones. However I gotta say I feel like I've developed a fobia about puting new fish in the same tank with those "killers".

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## iwishweallcouldwin

you can try plecos or angelfishes if you don't mind, shouldn't be a problem as long as your tank is large enough. maybe adult-sized congo tetras? i'm just guessing. think as long as the tankmates are larger in size than the tigers, they should be pretty safe.

actually just a viewing a group of tiger barbs shoaling around in the tank is also pretty enjoyable in my opinion, they're pretty interesting fishes as well, especially those with bloody red outlines around their finnage! so fret not pal! if there's a will, there's a way!

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## Quixotic

I am no expert, but I am thinking that your tiger barbs, being the older occupants, may have already marked their territories in the tank. So introducing any newcomers, neon tetras in this case, would be construed as encroaching on their territories and the barbs aren't very tolerant with that.

If the neon tetras are the older occupants and tiger barbs are then newly introduced to the tank, then I think there could be a better chance that it may work. However, as this is my pure conjecture, I may be way off the mark here though.  :Grin:

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## zoli

I think you're right on the spot Quixotic, probably this is the problem here.

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## zoli

Hi, guys!
I'm getting back on this cuz now I'm thinking... Clown Loaches. What do you guys think? I never had them... I know they jump and can grow kinda big. Other then that, don't know much about them. Do you think they could handle my "killer tiger barbs" and if so... how many should I get? Please give me the important details I don't what another genocide on my hands.

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## Quixotic

Jump out of the tank? Hmm... haven't heard of that. Perhaps it is a case of water being too high and they got too excited with the "loach dancing".

Yes, they can be kept with the barbs. However, there are a few things to note though when keeping them.

1. They do better in a group, minimum recommendation is 5.
2. They can grow up to 30cm TL, although they grow rather slowly.
3. Substrate must not be sharp.
4. They may uproot, or punch holes in plants.
5. They are omnivores, diet should include meaty food and vegetable matter.

I would be wary about keeping 5 or more in a 150L tank. You can start out with smaller specimens but as they grow larger, you would really need to consider housing them in a larger tank.

Loaches Online has great resources on the clown loach, here is one to start with http://www.loaches.com/species-index...a-macracanthus. Even if you decide not to keep them, do go through all the related clown loach articles if you can, they make very interesting reads.

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## zoli

Thank you for the info, 30 cm does seem very big indeed. But some people say that only rarely do they ever get that big.

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## zoli

oh man.... I just finished reading the info from the link you posted. Those loaches are huge. I'm sorry to say, but clearly, this is no fish for me! I guess I'm gonna try rasboras... but I'm so worried the barbs are gonna kill them. Thank you for the link, very good info.

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