Animal-World > Freshwater Fish > Cyprinids > Tiger Barb

Tiger Barb

Sumatra barb ~ Partbelt barb ~ Tirger Family: Cyprinidae

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Puntius tetrazona Photo © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

   The flashy colorful Tiger Barb is not only hardy and easy to keep but is a real lively, fun to watch fish!

   Once called the "Sumatranus" because it came from Sumatra, the Tiger Barb has been a popular fish for a long time. It is a standard favorite in the aquarium world. It will eat all all kinds of foods and is fairly easy to breed. A great fish for the beginner and advanced aquarist alike, though they can be nippy with their tank mates.

   The Tiger Barb is the largest of the 'banded barbs' and has a gaily colored yellow to red body with four very distinctive black stripes. There are several varieties and 'color morphs' of this barb, some of which are also now very popular. These include the Albino Tiger Barb, the Longfin Tiger Barb, and the Green ('moss') Tiger Barb.

   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!

   These active fast swimming fish need company. The Tiger Barb does 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 tankmates.

For more Information on keeping freshwater fish see:
Guide to a Happy, Healthy Freshwater Aquarium

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.

Status:
   These fish are not endangered.

Description:
   The body of the Tiger Barb is a gaily colored yellow to red background with four very distinctive black stripes. 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 Tiger 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 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 Tiger 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. During spawning they will develop a very red nose.

Buy Tiger Barbs From LiveAquaria.com

Breeding/Reproduction:
   The Tiger Barbs are egg layers. See the description of breeding techniques in Breeding Freshwater Fish.

Availability:
   The immensely popular Tiger Barb is available basically anywhere, both in stores and online. Prices range about $2.00 - $7.00 USD per individual, depending on size. The Longfin Tiger Barb variety is a bit more rare.

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Latest Comments
I had 4 tiger barbs in one 4 gallon tank, and they took a few days of fighting to establish a pecking order. I had those 4 for about 6 months, when one died, and I replaced him with a slightly larger albino barb, because whenever you introduce a new fish on its own, it should be bigger, or the barbs you already have will gang up and attack it. The 3 regular barbs would swim curiously around the new fish for a few days, not nipping, and very cautious, and then they became a pack. They are all every healthy and happy together in a pack. I would not add more than four fish in the 4 gallon tank, otherwise they will get very crowded, and get sick. <3 2009-06-20
I have a Tiger Barb named Stripes in my 10 gallon tank and he's mean! I had a clown loach and he chased him nonstop till he got Ich and I had to flush him. But today he killed my Angelfish that I got 2 days ago. I wouldn't buy these fish even in groups, they're mean and attack and chase all the fish in my tank including my innocent pleco and corys. Anonymous 2009-03-10
My mother and I once had five Tiger barbs with about 5 Red-Tailed tinfoil barbs, a bala shark, a columbian shark, an iridescent shark, 2 corydoras (one bronze, one pepper) and 2 very big plecos. They ate the fins off most of the tinfoils, resulting in their deaths, and only one is still living at 13 years of age. We had to get rid of the tiger barbs because of their destructive ways. They really are rather nippy, and can be... somewhat of a hazard to big, slow fish. Keep them in schools of seven or more, and they should be content. Jennifer 2009-03-02
I have a tiger barb and an albino one. My tiger barb (reggie) is with me for more then a month now. When I added the albino(albi) and a comet goldfish (cory), reggie tend to bother the two; but when I put them in the aquarium after cleaning it reggie stops after a few hours. On saturday I will buy some more tiger barbs to make reggie stop nipping on cory's fins, but I think all of them are like happy friends. I even think that reggie likes albi and if one of them becomes pregnant I will separate them in another place, and cory and the other fishes will live happily ever after. Joseph jr. 2008-12-04
DO NOT keep only one tiger barb in your tank with other fish! I had 6 barbs and 5 fell victims to ich disease. The one we have left just killed two other fish by nipping at their fins so badly, they were left with no fins at all- just their torso. He did this in 4 days only! We are taking him back to the pet store we purchased him at because we can't bear to see any of our other fish killed by his biting. MAKE SURE YOU KEEP MORE THAN ONE BARB! He was fine until the rest died, and then all hell broke loose :( Lyndsay 2008-10-15
Some of the coolest comments:
I have found much to my amusement that barbs 'bow' to the most dominant. The smaller barbs will tip slightly to their side whenever the top fish swims past them. This is probably because by tipping they are protecting their fins from being nipped by the agressive one, but it still looks funny. Jessie 2007-12-05
Wow, tigerbarbs are cute n lively.. They move around the fish tank happily.. I have 11 of them.. I feed them with fish flakes n they love it I suppose. Ha Ha.. Happy watching them n feeding them.. Tan Joo Fung 2004-04-02

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Author: David Brough. CFS.