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Green Tiger BarbMoss-banded Barb ~ Moss Barb Family: Cyprinidae
A real lively 'fun to watch' fish, the Green Tiger Barb is one of the most striking varieties of this species!The Green Tiger Barb, Moss-banded Barb, or Moss Barb is one of the most notable color morphs or varieties of the regular Tiger Barb. They are truly striking with a deep fluorescent green or blue-green body coloring. Their aquarium requirements, behaviors, care and feeding are the same as their parentage. Like all of their cousins they do best kept in a group of 6 or more, and they are lively and active so need plenty of room to swim. They are hardy and a great fish for beginners, though they can be nippy with their tank mates. For a very attractive effect in your aquarium try adding some pretty Green Tiger Barbs to a school of regular Tiger Barbs. They provide a nice contrast of swift moving, darting color! Mixing even more varieties works equally well and creates a really exciting effect. Some of these include the Longfin Tiger Barb, and the Albino Tiger Barb.
These active fast swimming fish need company. These barbs do 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 tank mates. For more Information on keeping freshwater fish see:
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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!
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| Geographic Distribution Puntius tetrazona |
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| Point data provided by FishBase.org |
Distribution:
The Tiger Barb was described by Bleeker in 1855. They are found in Indonesia, Sumatra, Borneo, and
possibly Thailand. Many are captive bred for the aquarium industry and this variety, known as the Green Tiger Barb, Moss-banded Barb, or Moss Barb is a captive bred color morph.
Status:
There are no wild populations of this color morph.
Description:
The body of the Green Tiger Barb is truly striking, being a deep fluorescent green or metallic blue-green. The four very distinctive black stripes in the parent Tiger Barbs are missing. There is red on
the outside of the dorsal fins as well as on the tail and ventral fins. When in spawning mode they have a bright
red snout.
Size - Weight:
These fish get up to 3 inches (7 cm).
Care and feeding:
Since they are omnivorous the Green Tiger Barb, Moss-banded Barb, or Moss 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.
An aquarium best suited to the Albino 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.
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
Social Behaviors:
The lively Green Tiger Barb, Moss-banded Barb, or Moss 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. Durring spawning they
will develop a very red nose.
Breeding/Reproduction:
The Green Tiger Barb, Moss-banded Barb, or Moss Barb are
egg layers. See the description of breeding techniques in Breeding
Freshwater Fish.
Availability:
The Green Tiger Barb, Moss-banded Barb, or Moss Barb is readily
available both in stores and online. Prices range about $3.00 - $8.00 USD per individual, depending on size.
Comments from people who have kept this fish:
once i had 130 tiger barbs mixed from the three kinds, but i made a killing mistake. the first day in my tank i gave them live food (worms) and the water color changed. it was my first time in barbs (tiger) so i though may be if i changed some of the water it woud be better, then i started to change it. then days after, every day there was dead tigers. not less than 5-8 a day every day until all the school was gone away. later i recognized that i should not have changed the water with new fresh water from the tap with chlorine! so take care people, the tiger barb is a very sensitive fish and very cute.
I'm a good fan of tiger barbs and i recently purchased 2 Moss and 2 Regular tiger barbs. I also have one grown tiger barb and a grown albino tetra. usually barbs do not go well when there is only one but i had good luck with it and my tetra. I bought the others because i loved them, and i thought i should play it safe. =)
I currently have 4 of what I know as Moss Green Barbs, having the same rich & shimmery bluey green body colours, but they also have rich orange colouration on their nose and the tips of their fins. I say currently because I realised the other day that two of them are pregnant, and I came to this site to help me raise some baby fish! I put the most bulging mum in a small floating hatchery in the main tank, and she started dropping eggs today! I had to use the hatchery idea because I have a number of other fish that although live very happily with the barbs would find the eggs and baby fry a tasty treat. The other fish I have are 2 silver sharks, 2 kuhli loach, 2 bristle nose catfish, 2 gold algae eaters, 2 siamese catfish, a pepper catfish, a panda cory, 3 black widows, and a bumble bee. This is a very exciting time!
I have 3 Green Tiger Barbs and they get along just fine. They're in a 30gal tank along with 2 Dwarf Gouramis (red), 2 Dwarf Frogs, 3 Pleco, 1 shrimp, 1 guppy, 1 platty, and 2 Black tetras. (they like to hang out with the green tiger barbs as they swim back and forth sometimes. Nice combo) Green Tiger Barbs are a excellent choice for a community given the proper amount of plants and rocks.
i just bought some green moss, 6 of them and totally love them. their colours, the way they move, everything at this stage the best fish i have
have just got 5 of the green barbs and i love them. i love the colour of them and they remind me of a small group of soldiers in camoflauge when they school together. i also have two blue gourami and they don't bother them at all or the other fish. they don't really school together all the time either. they seem happy enough to swim around in pairs or alone sometimes. they can be quite playful and fun to watch.
Some of the coolest comments:
I've noticed that my green Barb will turn a shimmery green when he is happy or being fed. He turns a dark rich black when he is fighting with the other barbs and doesn't want to back down, and will fade out in color almost instantly if my water isn't the perfect condition or if he is stressed. My tigers fade out or brighens up too, but not as drastically as my green.
I had 8 Green Tiger Barbs & encountered a tragic event! One morning I awoke to find one missing the fin on its tail. I moved this injured fish to its' own tank. It did not survive. A month or so later I found a different Barb missing it's right fin & the muscle was entirely exposed!! I moved this fish to its' own tank. This fish survived and now has a tiny stump for a fin (quite cute actually). About ANOTHER month later my Plecostomus dorsal fin was attacked & the fin part was chewed away leaving the spines of the fin. I moved this pleco to the tank with the other injured Barb and both are fine and get along well. Now that I have a group of 6 Green Tiger Barbs, I have found no further injuries. The moral of my blurb is that 5 or 6 is probably a good number of fish. 8 may be too many. I had been warned when I purchased the fish not to put them in groups larger than 8 but also not less than 5. I certainly learned a lesson others may want to heed. (p.s. I have a 60 gal tank so it wasn't a space issue)
Author: David Brough. CFS.
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