Tiger Barbs--Fish of the Month?

[sarcare]

Common Name: Tiger Barb, Albino Tiger Barb, Green Tiger Barb, Ruby Tiger Barb, Sumatra Barb

Scientific Name: Puntius tetrazona, (also Barbus schuberti, Barbus/Capoeta tetrazona)

Description: When young, tiger barbs share the typical minnow shape, but as they mature they develop a pronounced high forehead and a full fat belly. Though they are called a “barb,” tigers only have the smallest of vestigial barbs, so small that most descriptions disclaim their existence, (but I have spotted them.) They have four black stripes on a silvery/orange background, though several color morphs are available within the same species. Albino tiger barbs are orangey with cream stripes, green tiger barbs have green iridescence that obscures the stripes to some extent, two different colors are sold as ruby tiger barbs, they either have a red sheen over their stripes or are black/red. When stressed or showing aggression, the black stripes in the normal morph show an iridescent green/blue sheen. Their dorsal fins are black with an orange boarder, and their other fins are translucent orange.

Males tend to be brighter colored, and develop a very bright orange snout, while females tend to have larger bellies and lack some of the color of males.
Male:
Female:
It is hard to tell the difference in stores as they are usually pale and washed out. Some reports indicate that the older fish loose some of the vibrancy of their color. They grow to an adult size of three inches long, which is combined with a chunky body size. Typically they will have a life-span of 2-3 yrs.

While classified in many pet-stores as semi-aggressive, they are not suited for inclusion with most other semi-aggressive species. Overall, they lack the “aggressive” behaviors associated with such fish as cichlids, rather they are noted “fin-nippers,” and love to chase each other and other fish around. Ideally they should be kept in species only tanks, with at least a group of 7-8. They are not “schooling” fish so much as “shoaling” fish, and travel in loose groupings. However, they really do need the company of other tiger barbs, though they are not picky as to the color morph. A group of tigers will establish a pecking order through chasing each other, and through confrontations in which tiger barbs will spin around flashing iridescent colors.


Natural Habitat: Still and slow moving rivers. Southeast Asia; Borneo, Indonesia, and Sumatra, also reported in Thailand. (Near the large hatcheries in Asia, tiger barbs have been released to the wild, and so are found in areas outside of their natural habitats.)

Aquarium Requirements: 76-84 degrees Fahrenheit, when they are young they can be kept in a 20g tank, but a school of adult barbs will fill up a 30g tank. They are at all levels of the tank, and would prefer a longer tank so they can chase each other. Barbs will eat food at all levels, and spend their time picking through the gravel at the bottom looking for food. Thus sand, rounded gravel, or other smaller substrate is important—they do pick up pieces of gravel and spit it out.

Tiger barbs are VERY piggy eaters--they will eat ANYTHING and EVERYTHING offered, including your hands. They will eat so much that they will die--while being medicated mine will eat so much that they can't close their mouths. I regularly feed mine peas to help keep them regular. I have not found a food that they will not eat, though I’ve not seen them eating my plants that much. They have tried to eat the duckweed.

Disease Concern: Tiger barbs are particularly vulnerable to a variety of illnesses—swim-bladder problems from trying to eat dry flake food, ick, velvet, parasites, and fin rot. Some people think this may be because they are so in-bred (these people posit that the normal morphs are more healthy) or because they are produced in large numbers in unhealthy conditions in Asia. Either pre-soak their flakes or feed sinking pellets--my barbs will eat from my fingers under the water. In the months I’ve had my tiger barbs, I’ve personally dealt with a number of these ailments: ich, velvet, swimbladder problems, and wasting sickness.

Breeding Information: I have no personal experience with breeding, but I have read that they are egg scatterers and easily breed in captivity in tanks with acidic ph. My barbs have shown courting behavior—showing off for females, and brushing against each other. There aren’t a lot of hobby breeders of tiger barbs, because they are so inexpensive at the stores.

Personal Information:
1. When at rest tiger barbs "headstand", or float with their noses at a 45 degree angle. This is normal behavior for the fish during rest--it is only a problem if the fish cannot pull out of the head stand
2. Tiger barbs get bigger then you think--my baby barbs are now almost two inches tip of nose to tail fin. When I bought them in July they were an inch, and now they've doubled in size. Since they have been recovering from wasting sickness (thanks TTA for the medicine suggestion), they have been getting big bellies to go along with their length.
3. Tiger barbs have a lot of personality--they beg for food all the time--but don't give in. They do that even when they have eaten so much they can't close their mouth.
4. Though an inexpensive fish, it is not the beginner fish some people claim. The special requirements needed by this group of fish make them suitable only to those able to give them adequate space and care.

[rosita]

Excellent profile!!! I really found it helpful, thank you--and my baby barbs thank you! Maybe these will live!!

[FreddytheFish]

Really nice pics.

Great article!

[RTR]

Tiger barbs are very easy to breed, but are avid egg-eaters, so dense Java Moss or large glass marbles as substrate are good (or coarse nylon net on frames which they cannot get under - this is the technique I used). As they tend to spawn early in the light cycle, moving gravid females and the selcted pre-conditioned males in after dark is good - they spawn the next AM and should be netted out soon after. Fry are smallish but not difficult.

IME, they have always been sensitive to Ich, but I have too little experience with the color morphs to judge whether or not they are more sensitive than the standard. I tend not to keep most tank-selected forms of fish, my personal preference is for the wild types (other than the albino Ancistrus cats).

IME, the larger the tank the better, and I do agree that longer is always better for such fish. One of my favorite setups is a 4' tank with tiger barbs and small clown loaches - they school together quite well. After a couple of years the Clowns need to be re-homed, but while it lasts, it is cool to my eyes.