[Hoppy]

I'm looking for a fish that will school nicely, but be a bit bigger than cardinal tetras or white cloud mountain minnows. Years ago I greatly enjoyed the beauty of both Serpae Tetras and Tiger Barbs, both of which can be fin nippers, or just downright pugnacious (the Tiger Barbs). I quit using them back then because I would always gradually lose the other fish to them, followed by losing them, weakest ones first.

So, my questions are: (Tank is 36" x 17" x 20", about 60% full of water.)
Which would be more likely to live and let live - a dozen Serpae Tetras or a dozen Tiger Barbs? And, which would live with Hatchet Fish longer than the time it would take for them to assassinate them? (I'm assuming both would ignore Otocinclus - right?)

I hope to make a decision in a few days.

 

[redman88]

my tiger barbs ignore my Otocinclus

 

[Chrisinator]

How about Forktail Rainbows, Blueeyed Rainbows or Threadfin Rainbowfish? A tank dedicated to them would be stunning.

Serpeas tend to be nippers to themseleves while Tiger Barbs can be anyone. I'd go with Serpaes if you like the red, but Tiger Barbs are awesome fish!

 

[SearunSimpson]

What about High-spot rasboras/emerald eye rasbora?

 

[mistergreen]

I have 3 of these guys. They seem to school. A group of them would awsome.
rasbora borapatensis

they're about 1.5 - 2 inches.

 

[Hoppy]

How about Forktail Rainbows, Blueeyed Rainbows or Threadfin Rainbowfish? A tank dedicated to them would be stunning.

Serpeas tend to be nippers to themseleves while Tiger Barbs can be anyone. I'd go with Serpaes if you like the red, but Tiger Barbs are awesome fish!

The Forktail Rainbows would be perfect, and the Theradfin Rainbows almost as good, but I'm not sure my LFS stocks either one. They had a pretty limited bunch of Rainbow fish the last time I looked. I will look for these!

What about High-spot rasboras/emerald eye rasbora?

These just don't appeal to me, and I have never seen them in the LFS I use for fish.

I have 3 of these guys. They seem to school. A group of them would awsome.
rasbora borapatensis

they're about 1.5 - 2 inches.

I doubt that I will find any of these in my LFS. A few years ago that store had just about everything, but lately it has been going downward on its stock variety and quality. I only shop for fish there because they are free until I use up my credits.

 

[NateFank]

i like golden serpae tetras personally, i like how they are way brighter than the regular ones

 

[Hoppy]

i like golden serpae tetras personally, i like how they are way brighter than the regular ones

Do you keep a big group of them, like 12-15? And, do they annoy the other fish?

 

[lauraleellbp]

I never had issues mixing Tiger barbs with other fish, as long as I kept at least 6-8 in a school. I had less aggression with them than with Serpaes.

I think Rummynose tetras would look stunning, though- and hard to beat them for schoolers!

 

[blackandyellow]

I have a school of Red Eye Tetras and they school really nice and have never seen them attack othe fish. These fish look better on a dark background / substrate.

How about a larger group of hatchets? love these weird looking fish

 

[shane3fan]

Im gonna speak up in a thread that I probably am not qualified to speak in. I saw a tank at my LFS that had a bunch of Odessa Barbs in it--AWESOME looking fish IMO. I have no idea if they will work in your tank though-I think they like cooler water than most tropicals.

 

[Hoppy]

Thank you, all of you, for the suggestions. I can't get away from my lifelong desire to have tiger barbs, minus the agony of watching them destroy each other, one by one. So, for now my plan is to get 12-15 of them, and have only them plus 3-4 Otos in the tank. This is a 36" tank but ony about 2/3 full of water. I'm giving up on the hatchet fish because the tank is open topped, with the water line close enough to the top that they might well all "fly" out of the tank. I'm still thinking about a few cories, but I suspect that would be over loading the tank.

 

[F22]

what about other barbs? T barbs are nice and do really well, odessa barbs would look great are much less aggressive than the tigers.

 

[Hoppy]

what about other barbs? T barbs are nice and do really well, odessa barbs would look great are much less aggressive than the tigers.

My LFS has some Odessa Barbs, but they don't appeal to me that much. They also have about 4 types of Tiger Barbs, from big beautiful ones, to smaller, thin striped ones, to green ones, etc. I still think I will go with the big beautiful ones, which are colored like the ones I had about 40 years ago.

 

[lauraleellbp]

I've always been partial to schools of the regular and green Tigers mixed together.

 

[NateFank]

Do you keep a big group of them, like 12-15? And, do they annoy the other fish?

the most i had was 9, i think, no they just constantly chased each other, but they were beautiful

 

[F22]

there is another type of barb that looks like a thin barred tiger...Barbus fasciolatus. http://www.aqua4you.de/images/fische/YLhYAl3d4M9l.jpg

 

[blackandyellow]

I think the small ones with thinner black bars are the "pentazona" type which supposedly are not as aggressive as the larger tetrazona (the most common)

 

[F22]

yea, the pentazona are very docile, and sometimes show up in the retail trade as "thin bar tiger barb" they should not be housed together, as they usually get destroyed by the more aggressive "true tiger barb"

 

[F22]

nice research on the barb there blackandyellow