bob - 2008-12-16 Tinfoil barbs and red tails, also golden ones, are easy to care for. Your crazy and cruel if you don't have a 120+ gallon tank as they need copious amounts of filtration and water movement. They love live foods and get along with most fish if fed well and balnced mix of fish. I have 5 with a butterfly koi, 2 blood parrots, 2 kissing gouramies, and a 6 inch blue crayfish. They all get along great. But beware! they love to jump and swoop at food when they feed at the surface. They play chase the leader a lot. They are not fighting but love room to swim. Enjoy your fish and don't forget "how would you like to live in a shoe box with several others" buy bigger tanks please...
Andy - 2008-02-15 I had a red tinfoil for awhile, and I accidentally killed it as I was cleaning the tank, On the top glass I used 4 drops of bleach to clear up the glass, and one slid down into the tank. About one minute later it was swimming upside down. When it died, I had it with about 20 1-week-old bluegill and one 2-pound blue gill (I have a bluegill pond next to my house). But before that it was in with another tinfoil, 2 bala sharks, and 2 silver dollars. A great family fish, except once a baby bluegill was chasing it around the tank and the tinfoil ate it.
jim - 2007-12-11 I just bought a school of nine! I was in the market for a school of large fish to add to my 75gal which previously only housed a butterfly pleco, a Jack Dempsey, and a mutt-african cichlid. I don't have quite enough space for their full grown size, so I am now committed to buying a larger tank for them. But I couldn't resist all nine. When I saw them at the store they occupied only a third of the 30gal they were in because they schooled so tightly, seeing that there was no way I could break them up. Currently they get antagonized a little by the african, but the Jack acts as a sort of bodyguard. On that note I have noticed they do not get picked on (and in fact chase the antagonizer off) when the light is shut off. Perhaps good to note for those of you about to introduce them into a mildly aggressive tank. Enjoy their activity, but remember they are skittish and even their own reflections trip them up. Happy fish keeping!
The Red-tail Tinfoil Barb makes an excellent addition to a good-sized tank with other large, semi-peaceful inhabitants!
Tinfoil barbs and red tails, also golden ones, are easy to care for. Your crazy and cruel if you don't have a 120+ gallon tank as they need copious amounts of filtration and water movement. They love live foods and get along with most fish if fed well and balnced mix of fish. I have 5 with a butterfly koi, 2 blood parrots, 2 kissing gouramies, and a 6 inch blue crayfish. They all get along great. But beware! they love to jump and swoop at food when they feed at the surface. They play chase the leader a lot. They are not fighting but love room to swim. Enjoy your fish and don't forget "how would you like to live in a shoe box with several others" buy bigger tanks please...
I had a red tinfoil for awhile, and I accidentally killed it as I was cleaning the tank, On the top glass I used 4 drops of bleach to clear up the glass, and one slid down into the tank. About one minute later it was swimming upside down. When it died, I had it with about 20 1-week-old bluegill and one 2-pound blue gill (I have a bluegill pond next to my house). But before that it was in with another tinfoil, 2 bala sharks, and 2 silver dollars. A great family fish, except once a baby bluegill was chasing it around the tank and the tinfoil ate it.
I just bought a school of nine! I was in the market for a school of large fish to add to my 75gal which previously only housed a butterfly pleco, a Jack Dempsey, and a mutt-african cichlid. I don't have quite enough space for their full grown size, so I am now committed to buying a larger tank for them. But I couldn't resist all nine. When I saw them at the store they occupied only a third of the 30gal they were in because they schooled so tightly, seeing that there was no way I could break them up. Currently they get antagonized a little by the african, but the Jack acts as a sort of bodyguard. On that note I have noticed they do not get picked on (and in fact chase the antagonizer off) when the light is shut off. Perhaps good to note for those of you about to introduce them into a mildly aggressive tank. Enjoy their activity, but remember they are skittish and even their own reflections trip them up. Happy fish keeping!